Leusa Lloyd

I am oyster


pried open, shucked
bivalves cracked         at the spine

plucked from seabed
stripped for pearl’s

iridescent light
moon of the sea

declared a delicacy
no – an aphrodisiac

a thing to be lemoned, vinegared
    swallowed                not chewed 

and once all is taken
left in two,

halved, emptied,
chucked


Back to Issue XIV…


Lynne Ellis writes in pen. Their words appear in Poetry Northwest, The Seventh Wave, the North American Review, the Missouri Review, Bracken, and many other beloved journals and anthologies. Winner of the Washburn Prize, the Perkoff Prize, and the Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize, she believes every poem is a collaboration. Read their digital chapbook, "Future Sketchbook," online at Harbor Review. Ellis holds a Certificate in Editing from the University of Washington, serves as a poetry reader at Crab Creek Review, and is Publishing Editor of Tulipwood Books, a developmental-editing press. She wants to work with you.