ABOUT

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

ARCHIVE

LAGNIAPPE

MAST

SUBMISSIONS

Two Poems
by Marc Harshman



Not Quite the Marryat Code but Decipherable, Nonetheless

       Deborah wrote her mother a love letter leaving out every period, never dotting an ‘i,’ writing until the ink ran out and then mumbling all the way to the Post Office, mumbling like the Polish priest with his Latin over the elements. I was moved by her devotion and the stars did seem to come on in her deep sky eyes ever after and though, like Hart Crane, she was said to have been "lost at sea," I knew better. It was true that she seldom came to anchor anywhere near; yet I could see her sails far out on the days when the fog lifted and the sun shone. She would drift beyond the harbor where the rip tide roiled, and seemed at home there from what I could read of her signal flags. I noted, as well, that some days she went swimming with dolphins and those others about whom I could only guess. I learned to make the sign of the cross myself soon after. And though Christ has been gone, at least, kind of, you know what I mean, these two thousand years, Deborah’s mother had only been gone a couple days when Deborah wrote that letter and, having been there and having a Biblical name myself, I begin to see how these things happen and have this feeling that Deborah’s mom and Jesus -- and who knows who all else -- are probably frolicking there somewhere beyond the frisky waves and coral reefs, in those deep, warm waters where the stars persist, gleaming in Deborah’s eyes, dotting every ‘i’ and finishing her sentences with a confidence she’s never had before.

Crickets Wearing Wristwatches

       The crickets were not due on this shift until nine o’clock but the universe had expanded so much lately it had become increasingly difficult to see the radium glow that revealed the little hand’s marvelous connection to yesterdays and tomorrows, to now and then. They did their best, though, made their excuses, and punched in as if this new world were really little different from the old. And that evening the little hands were replaced by little feet and all went on much as it had before, only a small change in the universe after all