Anemone

Featured in

  • Published 20231107
  • ISBN: 978-1-922212-89-4
  • Extent: 208pp
  • Paperback, ePub, PDF, Kindle compatible

Lady, in this heavy light 

you show tender: waving your insides 

outside, buffeted by the sea’s 

old heave ho. Nobody calls out medusa

but there’s a distinct resemblance 

about the tentacles. The currents drag 

in silver mercies. Your face flares 

and ripples. Look, it was 

never meant to be easy: day after day 

fronting the ocean. We’ve all been 

fettered and must learn: this grasping. 

That letting go. 

Share article

More from author

Moon man

Poetry After Elizabeth Venn He circles the room five times, refusing to believe he’s resistible. I tell myself I won’t tilt  for his stained skin, his predictable footwork.  I’m...

More from this edition

Sartre’s lobsters 

Non-fictionIn The Secret Life of Lobsters (2004), Trevor Corson describes how, before the lobster’s status had sufficiently improved for affluent urbanites to desire its meat, ‘lobster’ was used derogatorily to describe British redcoats during the American Revolution and, later, dupes or fools in general.  Which brings me to Jordan Peterson.

Into the void

Non-fictionI think with a little fear, as I often do, of the many other (and much larger) creatures whose natural territory this is, and scan the surrounding water for any dark, fast-moving shadows. But soon I relax and settle into the rhythm of my freestyle stroke. Breathe. Pull. Pull. Pull. Breathe. Pull. Pull. Pull. Breathe.

The rabbit real

Non-fictionI know you want to ask me if I had a difficult childhood, if I suffered physically or mentally in any way that might swerve from the ‘normal’ pattern of development. But I have nothing to report: no tales of abuse to exploit through memoir; no scars to split open for internal poking. I had friends when I wanted them but was also happy when alone with the rabbit.

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.