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CJ Evans: I Recall the Fangs of the Helheim Tempest

May 13, 2011 by PBQ

so many were lost. We huddled, the ropes snakes, whipping
at whatever flesh they could find. Valkyries shrieked in the snapping
sails. I have never since screamed & not heard the sound. Never
since had such panic pried from my chest, like a boy who learns

even he must one day yield to nature; learns the lack beyond;
learns luck is larger than control. Then the eye & I breathed. In such
sudden silence, the tired piston of my chest rasped. The skies rolled
their depth through the hole of the moon & the seas rippled no more

than leather. I have never since looked on a sky & seen naught
but one star. The only pinprick in the pitch, like the winded wick
in the bedroom where a widow lies & wonders if she’ll ever nest
in the nook of a man’s neck again. Then the rain returned. First slow,

a million drips unseen out in the sea. I have never since cried with my
men. Never since fallen asleep and woken in the same nightmare. Three
days the Helheim tempest tossed us. On the third I let go the ropes,
& those Valkyries took me tenderly, first kissing my cut hands.

Filed Under: Contributors 74, Issue 74, Poetry, Poetry 74 Tagged With: CJ Evans, Contributors 74, Poetry, Poetry 74

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