wrath of the mermaid

by linda m. crate

you said once it was
unfair to send the vampire after
garlic,
but i think it was more unfair
for you to call the
mermaid
from the sea
only to leave me on land alone
a fish out of the water
trying to navigate
in a world
foreign and awkward to her;
you said it was unfair
of me to use
your words against you but you
never minded using mine
against me—
perhaps i was a fool to fall for a vampire
in every lore i’ve ever read they
don’t make fit lovers,
but perhaps i was hoping we’d build a better
love story than those before us that
had tried and failed;
an open minded mermaid with a heart full of
romance and dreams
washed up upon your shore and you
must have counted your
lucky stars
when you took mine from me—
you forget that sometimes there is little difference
between mermaids and sirens,
and one day i will drown
you in the lust you burned me with and let the
ocean and moon tear you into
wings of oblivion.

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Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. She currently resides in Meadville. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. Recently her two chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press – June 2013) and Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon – January 2014) were published. Her fantasy novel Blood & Magic is forthcoming from Ravenswood Publishing.