by Charles Kell
A cold eel on a fish-
monger’s shelf, half moon
broken in the window.
We were drawn to study
this poorly supported art, at first,
through practical consideration.
A few drinkers are still awake,
lit by shadow
and a tallow candle.
Here, in the book
of your lungs, night
stretches through a half-open
window. A clean white
page waits on the table.
Charles Kell is a PhD student at The University of Rhode Island and associate editor of The Ocean State Review. His poetry and fiction have appeared in The New Orleans Review, The Saint Ann’s Review, Kestrel, The Pinch, and elsewhere. Cage of Lit Glass, chosen by Kimiko Hahn for the 2018 Autumn House Press Poetry Prize, is forthcoming. He teaches in Rhode Island and Connecticut.