Art Ticker

Martin Ott

Alligators Are Out There Eating Sharks, No Big Deal
 
It was tougher to drain the swamp than we thought,
            home field advantage and all. The ocean got all up
                        in rivers. The insults were popping and brown water
            hopping with laced cocktails and mouths locking up
in wired hotel rooms. When the bears started eating

their young, when the winged insects droned on
            and dove into extinction, when the bill came due,
                        the boats grew full, and the magistrates mourned
            concrete pillars disappearing into muck, a battle
brewed above and below. There is what we believe

about these days and what we know. The sharks
            responded with brute force, blood in the water
                        reflecting sky dripping fire. The plot was lost,
            applause indistinguishable from thunderclaps
or bombs. Jaws open, independent of the cause.

Martin Ott, a longtime resident of Los Angeles, has published eight books of poetry and fiction, most recently Lessons in Camouflage, C&R Press, 2018. His first two poetry collections won the De Novo and Sandeen Prizes. His work has appeared in more than two hundred magazines and fifteen anthologies.




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