The Mermaid’s Dilemma

by Michael Angelo Stephens

My life is on the rocks, the mermaid said,
And who am I to disagree with her,

This diaphanous creature of earth and
Sea, lounging near the pier filled with penguin

Guano and gull regurgitations of
Fish bones and seaweed, spindrift and icy

Foam tentacles, as the waves break on shore,
And the tide rushes out as if it was

Late for an appointment out beyond the
Far off blue horizon. The sad mermaid

Wonders where is her place in the scheme of
Things without a first-class college degree.

© Copyright Michael Angelo Stephens

Michael Angelo Stephens is the author of over 20 books, including the critically acclaimed novel The Brooklyn Book of the Dead; the travel memoir Lost in Seoul; and the award-winning essay collection Green Dreams. His latest book, just out, is a hybrid collection of prose poems and poetry, part fiction, part fact, about an out of work actor who lands the part of Hamlet, and is entitled History of Theatre or the Glass of Fashion. MadHat Press just published it.

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