Metamorphoses : Seth & Osiris

by Gabriel Antonio Reed

Featured art: Rabbit by Alexis Politz

How can you tell a coyote isn’t born from the air

I saw one last night its eyes

            the white first blush of a lantern carrying itself

to morning & I’m quiet now

            watching this stream open through sudden blue

branches & reminded of the story

            of how the sleepy god became sealed in a chest &

can you see him sheets of white rainwater

            & the chest’s carved wonders maybe the birth

of quartz as he cries the river

            maybe this story is painted on the chest a waterfall

black spring pansies he is crying & his brother

            will not hear him floating where the currents

blow on the stones’ timid hands

            & when they open there is snow & the chest strikes

the green undertow

            & I wonder when I last called my sister & when

we last heard one another

            as the god’s body breaks on green water your eye

your wrist a baby tooth your ears

            so that even if your body reforms even if I spend all night

parsing leaves for each ribbon of hair

            then peel away the frost with this breath & let the runoff

guide me to a heart

            each seam will be its own blueway back here forever

I let the basket of ribs thicket

            & grow white thistles let the bright hands bless you

when they fly like two starry moths

            between us & haven’t I seen that coyote’s eyes somewhere

when we were children Remember

            I held you so afraid you would fall & your blue eyes brushing

my bent arm as you turned I love you I broke apart

Gabriel Antonio Reed (he/him) is a poet from East Tennessee. He is pursuing his PhD at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and holds an MFA from Hollins University. His work is forthcoming in the Kenyon Review and Seneca Review and has appeared in The Ekphrastic Review, Susurrus, and El Nieuwe Acá. He is an assistant editor at Red Flag Poetry. He lives with his spouse, Maggie, and daughter, Eloise, who just discovered carbonated water. 

Alexis Politz (they/she) is a queer freelance illustrator and designer living in Minneapolis, MN. They have been creatively working with bands, organizations, and small businesses since 2013. Alexis hopes to continue being an accessible resource for those beginning their passions as well as a professional asset for established companies. They draw inspiration from the natural world, grunge and vintage design, sociology, and the constant, internal monologue. You can find their work at alexispolitz.com.