MAYDAY

Island to Island
by Gabriella Adriana Iacono

Contributed By:

Two islands connected by a sliver of a underwater path in an aqua sea.
Photo by Sacha Gregoire via Unsplash

I’m on the back of the ferry in the Adriatic Sea
I’m on my back in a gondola on the East River
My captain is a short-tempered man with an ill-advised haircut
My captain is a lithe little thing with extraordinary taste in barrettes
It’s a wonder I’ve made it anywhere off the island
It’s a wonder I managed to butter my toast in the morning
Everything around me moves on library time
          borrowed and cracked and woefully underfunded 

Excuse me while I drop my obligations from this side of the earth
Excuse me while I drop dead after missing a cyber sale
I want to make myself an enemy of the porch swinging comeback kid
I long to wear a taxidermic California condor as a cape
Have you ever waged war with a gaggle of conservationists?
Have you ever tipped over someone else’s golden calf?
I’ve trotted up Moses’ mountain with hardly more than my bullshit
I’ve trotted out ten Hail Marianne Moore’s with a mouth full of syncretism
My secret is that I add cumin and red chili in my sell out sauce
My secret is I’m a miscreant and laterally a hedonist
I gnash on the seedy loaf of my gourmet discontent
I fill the coveted last seat at the bitch brunch table
I take the seat you used to occupy
Yet you reappear life vest bound slipped
            back into my consciousness 

GABRIELLA ADRIANA IACONO is a writer, artist, educator, and founder of ferry me magazine. She is a recipient of the C. Glenn Cambor Inprint Fellowship and a Mayapple Fellowship. Her work has appeared in Cherry Tree, the Raleigh Review, Southeast Review, SAND, minnesota review, Josephine Quarterly, and elsewhere. Her poem “Land Erasure” was commissioned by Aurora Picture Show and Public Poetry Houston. Iacono holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Houston. She lives in New York with her partner and pup. Instagram: @gabrielladriana @ferrymemag

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