A TALE OF A MERMAID
By V. Ulea
See what happens.
Sea what happens.
If you see it happens.
If you sea it happens.
I know what’s missing in those sentences. It’s not what you think, though. You think it’s the verb “to be” but it’s not. Well, it is for you, not for me. It’s because we belong to different elements. I belong to the sea and therefore you can’t see me while reading these lines. I, on the contrary, can see you because the sea is a receptacle of everything. I see things beneath and above at the same time. I see you with the clouds on your shoulders, the star Sirius, and the fallen leaves with mollusks inside their scrolls... I see a lonely house in seaweeds, a child playing with a cat, a bookshelf in seashells… I see what’s beyond the ellipsis, eclipses, and missing verbs … If I continue you’ll stay here forever, turning into a monument to yourself, and they will say you’ve been bewitched by a mermaid...
My works have appeared in the Literary Review, RE:AL, Princeton Arts Review, Bitter Oleander, and other journals and magazines. I have published books of poetry, prose, and literary criticism by Greenwood Press, Southern Illinois University Press, Livingston Press, and many others. V. Ulea is my penname. Contact V. Ulea.
