2 Poems by Christopher Morgan
Christopher Morgan
Another Jellyfish Poem II
A purple jellyfish came close to drowning.
I pulled it from the ocean’s soggy hands—this time it only burned a little.
I was glad, actually, to know I was alive and real again.
Seemed the jellyfish had become tangled in its own tentacles, stinging and stung
in its confusion. And part of me thought this was deserved.
Then I saw how it shuttered under its pain—I decided to unpeel it. My fingers
throbbed, but its welts were worse than mine.
As it swam back into the tide, I waved, only to be hit by a paper airplane.
I unfolded it and found a message from my sister.
Why did you flee our old house filled with jellyfish?
Why leave the welts and scars behind?
The Bear
While our doors were closed and my sister sleeps, a bear has entered our house. A bear. Sniffing about down the hallway. I wake to it. I’m out of bed and it’s already happening. I can hear it moving quietly beside the dining room table. Pushing chairs aside, but not knocking them over. It’s trying not to make noise. But a bear does. Something heavy thuds behind the steady click of claws on tile. I’m opening my door just a crack. I’m looking down the hall. My sister’s door is open. And nothing else. Of course nothing else. Then I stop. Something in the dark. Large. A couch, slowly moving toward me. Two reflections. Looking straight at me. Now I’m already inside my sister’s room, locking her door. But what can locks do against a bear? It’s making its way down the hallway. Its steps are louder, heavier—the flooring thuds beneath my feet. I don’t know what happens next.
Christopher Morgan is the author of “Shadow Songs” (Sad Spell Press 2015) and the Co-Manager of Nostrovia! Press. He grew up in Detroit and the Bible Belt of Georgia, before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he received his M.A. in Creative Writing and American Lit. The Reviews Coordinator for Alien Mouth, he also edits for tNY Press and Arroyo Literary Review. He loves fables, hiking in the redwoods, Tumblr, Twitter, and happy hour margaritas.