Issue 26: Sam Wilson Fletcher
Boltzmann
A wave spills tiny monuments
sprays fleck starless beeps
whatever he wishes is deepest
whatever he wills, euphonious
and aphanitic under observation
in old plastic at the Tischlein
dented with Xs, crosses, open triangles
shafts flow over reckless water
laughter billows silk and ink
The ship holds Boltzmann in Holz Harbour
while little suckers leak buck tar
the twelve limbs sway, flesh buckles and trips
flesh runs in cascades
Boltzmann steadies his crib
making way for second place birds
black lizards in the first place
Blue tongues are natural, he says
a gold breath leavens the dough
In ravioli barrels, banded leeches
brandishes and cribbage in the bilge plates
wrinkled with rubber veins
the trademark Boltzmann scour
he fronds the wounded mate
in purple fractures
swim iodine squiggles
a sign of freshness in action
like ragged bread, his upper load
with trembling antennae
apex caveforms shift in boxes
a sound ice makes in time
Blue Pill
Laughing in colour
ripens the muscles
lathed speech sparks
high on time
unparaphrased
in other words, glorious
phrase wastes
line lengths pace
as wind tears
strips, layering forty weeks
in one wild hour
like pink stars
refulgent eyes
find the self inside
the unintentional sparkle
an oil bubble
curves an orange
cluck on willow
a darker green mirror
speckled with embers
conceals the sound creator
in small provincial cages
tankers, weed faces
brash in deprivation
the spectral head
land flippers
coloured crumbs
a jackpot hologram
in black waves rose
around the bomb
boobs, balls, whatever
diamonds or rhinestones
and gold gold gold
is a body fluid
desperation? howling
all we have is knotted
memory threads
here, take this 1-stroke
penne glitter poem
rain window dribble
race, merge as page
pressure drops
till barely touching
bolt tips from blue
brains flash
packed in feathered salt
as quick cold hands
cognate in statuary skies
cumulus with rage
swerve, ditch, spin
Sam Wilson Fletcher was born in Lewisham and studied at Oxford and Harvard. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in the Earthbound Poetry Series, Tears in the Fence, Magma and elsewhere, including the recent Seren anthology, 100 Poems to Save the Earth. Next summer he’ll be poet-in-residence on board boats exploring Antarctica and the Canadian Arctic.
Copyright © 2021 by Sam Wilson Fletcher, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of Copyright law. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the notification of the journal and consent of the author.
