Silver Bed Head

by Laurie Byro
PenShells
Honorable Mention, April 2017
Judged by R.T. Castleberry


After Alexander Calder’s Silver Bed Head

Silver veil of hair, an aged mermaid, waterfall
of fish and plant, make me a headboard

that summons dreams. Fashion a water globe hookah
that percolates over us– pumping, pulsing vaporous

thoughts escaping into ecstatic lake weed. When our
footprints dissolve into froth and sand, bubble

into the corners of a witch’s brew mouth, then
we will know the truth of it. People love filth.

Bread and sex: my sins are common ones.
Lift my imagination into the wild air,

never shackle me into the harness of a messy
bed. My headboard breathes and silvery

fish carry me down stream. I used them all,
sad darlings, as I conjured a scurrilous trance.

We are moths in the moonlight. Into each drifter’s
arms, let us begin the dance.