The Thing

A night tide expels it,
leaves it 
wallowing.

Salt has blistered,
nippers gnawed.

The carcass tumbles.
Tattered flesh flaps,
bone snaggles bone.

A figure emerges,
as if a mangled person
was escaping 
the weakening clutch
of tentacled coils.

Waves lap
at the lolling mound,
cavities rupture,
gas bubbles take
luminous shape.

A figure emerges,
hatching
from rancid offal,
it stumbles toward
the lights of a village.

Remains hang together
clothing a riddled form.
Strips of denuded meat
drag behind.

It is famished,
even though its belly is 
a bladder of corruption,
still, it is hungry.

It sees the warmly lit tavern,
imagines 
a sweet fried fish on a skillet,
a glass of strong ale 
waiting for the touch
of its macerated lips.

It had been a long swim.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2021

Poem

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