Phoebe North

YOU DISCOVER MORAY EELS IN THE GUISE OF . . .

You discover moray eels in the guise of swollen earth worms between shore and shore of cracked slate sidewalk after the sudden iron mumblerain of August when all has given way to flood and sweat and you journey barefoot just to feel the luscious ooze of mud bubble up under your fallen victory arches and between your toes. Each broken oak branch becomes a craft packed with bruised wanderers invisible to the automobile-eye and every uncurbed gutter is a tigris or euphrates filled with silver fish spawning and unschooled waltzing clumsy in the broke black asphalt falls; islands of driveway stones are peopled with centipedes, black ants, thousands of freckled-face huck finns and historians noting silent letters in the back of your throat and your calloused feet grow thicker and the skin pinks and peels up as the sneering sun shows his cheeks again to warm the road and warn you back into the dimness of aluminum siding and wood-paneled walls.

Pheobe North is a 21-year-old native New Jerseyan who will receive her bachelor's degree from William Paterson University in May. She is currently studying poetry under the guidance of Timothy Liu.