Bagatelle with Milkshake and Seal

By Seth Amos

“Moons of Earth” by Judith Skillman

for Jesse

The moon is the last swallow of milkshake

                                   waiting in the straw.

                     It’s not vanilla. It’s banana,

                                    thick with bits. The skinny-fingered trees scratch

the air. An unreachable itch.

            Minutes teach the hour to walk,

                                                then the hour walks away.

            In the alley, a cat

blinks a villanelle. Trash bags tremble

                                    from the feasting

            inside them. A dog barks

behind a glass door. I am yawning flies.

            The Earth is a wet blue ball

spinning on a seal’s nose, a trick

                        the seal is practicing but hasn’t perfected.

---

Seth Amos is co-founder and former poetry editor of Rivet: The Journal of Writing That Risks. He is the winner of the Catalina Páez & Seumas MacManus Award from The Academy of American Poets and was a finalist for a fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center. He has received fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and The Rensing Center. His work has appeared in Tin House, Poets.org, Zócalo Public Square, and elsewhere. He was a Thomas Hunter Fellow at Hunter College, where he received his MFA. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Judith Skillman paints expressionist works in oil on canvas and board. She is interested in feelings engendered by the natural world. Her paintings have graced the covers of Thin Air Magazine, Pithead Chapel, The Awakenings Review, and other journals. Work appears in The Penn Review, Artemis, Raven Chronicles, and elsewhere. Skillman has studied visual art at McDaniel College, Pratt Fine Arts Center, and Seattle Artist League (SAL). Shows include The Pratt, Galvanize, and Seattle Artist League. 

Visit judithskillman.com, etsy.com/shop/JkpaintingsStore, saatchiart.com/account/artworks/823323