Of the Scales
By Brittany Hutzel
In the violet minutes of the morning, the fisherman emerged
Avoiding his enemy resting by the fuchsia shore
Avoiding the heron, diving sharp as a scythe
To gather, he did, the mermaid scales
Lying plentiful and aquamarine in the velvet icy emerald water
Finding none now made of gold, he threw them back, defeated
And made his lunch, a pie of teal Japanese pumpkin
On a stump in the harbor, he sat in his sadness
In his sadness he spoke like violin
Of the harbor
Of the evergreens
Of the basilisk he one day faced
And of the fisherman
In the violet minutes of the morning, his pupils shown emerald
Then black again
—
Brittany Hutzel is graduating from NYU in less than a month. She’s a poet, editor, and content marketer, who enjoys travel, baklava, and Christmas most of all.
Josue Ledesma is a recent graduate from NYU Gallatin. While his background is in creative writing/screenwriting, he has focused most of his efforts on a burgeoning illustration career. You can keep up with him on his blog at jl-illustration.blogspot.com, follow him on twitter @JL_Illustration, or support him through society6.com/JosueLedesma.
Sunday Read is a weekly literary feature curated and edited by Wesley Salazar. We are accepting submissions of short stories, poetry, essays, script excerpts, etc. (max: 1000 words) on a rolling basis. We are also looking for artists who would like to illustrate for Sunday Read. Please submit to wesleyATbushwickdaily.com.
