Slippery Slope

Chérie reading

They fall oblique. The head’s pin tufts bobbing. They
fall rough. Could be buffalo scruff, this
duck baby down. They are alien meat. Perpendicular

the wing joints conniving in emerald or aqua, splaying
a murky diet of mindless plankton,
algae sunbathing upstream. This

is where water takes shape, the creaturely mass
setting up housekeeping, canal flow
engineered to massage something
ungovernable. Living perched
on oolitic limestone, we wait
the sea’s slouch upland. This

is where we risk joining fluid
and feather. Flesh and fur. Taking our chances.

2014 WLRN-Miami Herald News & O, Miami Festival Poetry Contest Winner: Best South Dade Poem


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About the author

C.M. Clark: C.M. Clark’s poetry has appeared nationally in Metonym Literary Journal, The Lindenwood Review, Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry & Prose, Painted Bride Quarterly and Gulf Stream magazine, as well as the 10th Anniversary Tigertail Anthology of South Florida writers (Fall 2013). New work will soon be appearing in the upcoming edition of Travellin’ Mama. Previously, Clark participated in programs featuring contemporary American poets at the Miami Book Fair International. She also served as inaugural Poet-in-Residence at the Deering Estate’s Artists Village in Miami, resulting in the collection, Charles Deering Forecasts the Weather & Other Poems (Solution Hole Press, 2012). Prior collections include The Blue Hour (Three Stars Press, 2007), and the artbook Pillowtalk, with painter Georges LeBar. Clark has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Miami, and teaches writing and literature at Miami Dade College.


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