∞

The Blue Dragon*

The Blue Dragon floats upside down,
tugging the surface tension of raindrops
to gaze at ordinary gems: a kite’s red ribbon,
a tern diving in and out, a lone maple licked
by sun-fire, fire in a sea massive and silver-
swaying. If I scream, rush out of this half-light,
charge fast enough to see the azure calling
the Blue Dragon’s moon, storm to hear
the deluge playing mazurkas to lift the world
inside of me, until my voice comes back to me
and I can tame the Blue Dragon to my tongue,
to the heavens, to the coral sparkling like filigree.

.

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*The Blue Dragon (Glaucus atlanticus) is a sea slug that is also known as a sea swallow.

∞

Ines P. Rivera Prosdocimi is the author of the poetry collection, Love Letter to an Afterlife (Black Lawrence Press, 2018). Her work has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Cold Mountain Review, Kweli, Nimrod, Poet Lore, Puerto de Sol, The Caribbean Writer, Wasafiri, and Witness. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Maryland and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from American University. Currently, she teaches literature at the University of Hartford.