FISH AND SHUSHAN

Vanessa Kittle (Shushan) is 35. She lives out on Long Island with her evil kitten, Sombrero. A former chef and lawyer, Vanessa is now an English composition professor. She published 2 collections of poetry in 2006: a chapbook called Apart, and a full-length book called Surviving the Days of the Empire, both with The March Street Press. Her work has recently been in The New Renaissance, Nerve Cowboy, Limestone, Ibbetson Street, and A Generation Defining Itself anthology. Vanessa edits Abramelin, the Journal of Poetry and Magick.



she lives in winter with white sheets

surrounded by snow

cheeks blushing with the frost

they are cherry blossoms

and a scrape of dirt where berries can live and grow


i'll be winter so i can hold you holding onto leaves

and ill be snow that i may melt on your tongue

and with your breath

then you may drink me like pure glacial water

to keep you refreshed and moving through the night


come show me what the inside of your kisses look like











we were peering into mouths

touching lips with fingers

to see where kisses come from

to see why

and what the inside of a kiss is


we’ll get to the bottom of this!

we say as lovers of science

or we’ll die trying


our lips will be astronauts

on a voyage of discovery


we were pressing hands

to rib cages

to keep hearts from exploding out


we were screaming into mouths

listening for moonlight


our pieces were falling off

our bodies moving touching

coming towards

coming together

we didn’t have time

to collect them all

they became mixed up

with each other on the floor


we were rescue breathing

into each others mouth


we were collecting each other’s

pieces in armfuls

weaving them into a nest









australia will always be there

in places that go everywhere with you like a hat


a secret whispered into your mouth

i want to whisper others


one fire thing breathing air into another

danger playing with danger

fire joining fire

to make a larger blaze


and your voice whispers back

it holds the energy of a neutron star


a winter leaf

still on the tree

waiting

for the inevitable truth

wanting

the inevitable truth

you being

the only truth

as far as my eyes can see

and they see a lot

horizons far

in orbit

like two leaves falling and dancing

swirling in the wind