(cryptofauna) of blue girl
Steven Artelle is the author of Metropantheon, published in 2014 by Signature Editions. His work has appeared in the Literary Review of Canada, Contemporary Verse 2, Prairie Fire, and filling Station, among others, and in publications by Mansfield Press, AngelHousePress, and above/ground press. He lives in Ottawa, where he works at Library and Archives Canada.
the deep of our apartment, remember
you moved in, a drowning boy, and I understood
the speech of fish
the shoal of my affection travelled so hungry
I reduced you to a bloodcloud
and oceanbones
your lying face
I remember you were so beautiful, I understood
the speech of birds
how the city is a forest rebuilt, and I wanted
to become a descent of woodpeckers
to break every tree in you
at night, listening to my own ears
the cud of clockwatcher blood, I understood
the speech of goats
the sound of you not coming home again
not until the traffic and I, at daybreak
grew horns
Steven Artelle is the author of Metropantheon, published in 2014 by Signature Editions. His work has appeared in the Literary Review of Canada, Contemporary Verse 2, Prairie Fire, and filling Station, among others, and in publications by Mansfield Press, AngelHousePress, and above/ground press. He lives in Ottawa, where he works at Library and Archives Canada.