Narcissus The Sea Otter – Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Gentleman caller
throws water against face
scoots across bedrock
into flaming sea.
Out among the shipmen trawling for affections.
Tiny whiskers of unshaven days
poking up out of the riptide.
Old man Chaperone.
Narcissus the sea otter.
A belly full of fish
under dress shirt buttons
about to burst.
Twisted cyclones
out in nobody’s ocean,
our man at the aquarium
holding his breath
and never his tongue.

About the contributor: Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many mounds of snow. His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly, The Conclusion Magazine, The 13 Alphabet, Red Fez, and The Oklahoma Review. He enjoys listening to the blues and cruising down the TransCanada in his big blacked out truck.