the hunter

by Jasmine Arch

i breathe
without breath

silty water
filters through my gills

floods my senses
with the taste
of kelp
fish
and filth

fucking humans
with boats that float
and boats that dive

the only good boat
is one that sinks

we tried
to leave the top
for them

our kind hides
deeper
and deeper
but still they come

their greed
as insatiable
as our hunger

they see only
our glamour
of soft hair
shining eyes
supple bodies

not the fangs disguised
by luscious lips
nor the claws
we keep from sight

not one
resists our bait

my prey drifts behind me
eyes unseeing
fingers reaching
for the air that isn’t there

limply he follows me down
where my young ones await
hiding is pointless
so we hunted
become the hunters

© Copyright Jasmine Arch

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Jasmine Arch is a poet, writer, narrator, podcaster and all around chaos-for-brains. She lives in a cozy little nook of Belgian countryside with 4 dogs, 2 horses, and a husband who knows better than to distract her when she’s writing.
Her work has appeared in NewMyths.com, Illumen, and Nightingale & Sparrow. Find out about her or her work at JasmineArch.com.

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Read the Rest of the September Issue

• wildgirls by Cislyn Smith
• Seaside Princess by Jordan E. McNeil and Kat Weaver
• The Mermaid Speaks by Jose Luis Pablo
• Send Feet Pics by Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas
• A Stone’s Throw from You by Jenn Reese
• Mermaids of Alabama: An Environmental Assessment by Ellie Campbell
• What Do Merfolk Notice on Land? by Priya Chand
• Puffin Queen by Jordan E. McNeil and Kat Weaver
• Witnessing by Tiffany Morris
• Beyond the Blue by Yuan Changming
• Selkie’s Bones by Marisca Pichette
• Mermaid Galleon by Alex Nodopaka
• A Mermaid Reports from Okeanos by Pat Tompkins
• Water Bites Back by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
• Freshwater Life by Anne E.G. Nydam
• Mer Crowley Angel by Arrick Corble
• the hunter by Jasmine Arch
• I Swim Up From Below by Sarah Gailey
• The Siren’s Song by Angela Gabrielle Fabunan