Red Herring
Pungent, vacant-eyed,
brined and dried,
rusty skin stretched to cracking,
you throw it onto my trail
to distract me from the truth.
I hesitate at your words
like a bloodhound confused
at which scent to follow.
The mystery, not musty or old,
of what lies beneath your mask
has taken up too many pages.
I cannot waste more time
deciding if I allowed the deception
or if I had a hand in creating it.
I choose to drop the chase,
but hear your feet pound away
into the murky branches.
A Dead Shark Isnât Art
Inspired by a Wikipedia article on Damien Hirstâs art installation âThe Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Livingâ
Four tiger sharks preserved
but still impossible.
Caught off Queensland, Australia,
the fishermenâs cut forgotten,
the sharksâ was not.
The first shark
was gutted and stretched,
displayed. Decayed.
Twelve million and change
caught in the vitrine of living memory.
The second a female,
âmiddle-agedâ thrown in so casually,
as if her toothy smile
injected with formaldehyde,
soaked in 7% formalin solution,
was all part of her original intention.
The third shark earned
more than was expected,
but remains a mere footnote.
The fourth shark
wisnae there at aw,
guppy in a box.
Gerry Stewart is a poet, creative writing tutor and editor based in Finland. Her poetry collection Post-Holiday Blues was published by Flambard Press, UK. In 2019 she won the ‘Selected or Neglected Collection Competition’ with Hedgehog Poetry Press for her collection Totems. Her writing blog can be found at http://thistlewren.blogspot.fi/ and @grimalkingerry on Twitter.
Bindweed Magazine 