Scene, Matthew Kirby (Winner, 2026 Short Poem Contest)

Scene

An ancient rock wall surveys the untranslatable blue sea,

in which the gleaming figure of a girl

bobs like an asterisk, appended to all that is.

And the jade green lenses of her tortoiseshell glasses

project oblong emerald ovals

onto the white linen dress she abandoned,

anchored by an unfinished book.

And every once in a while, a breeze troubles the pages:

…would rejoin simply that each person has his own time…

…the whole, simultaneous and perfect possession…

…a horse, a brown horse, a cloth, a soft cloth…

…do things manifest themselves well enough that these questions are not to the point…

And these symbols wait upon the girl,

who alone can give them meaning,

her body presently affected at all angles

by the alternating pressures of the friendly, friendless sea.