Mermaid Sculptures with the Rheumatologist
by Christa Fairbrother
Sand on a living beach is the hardest medium. You pile me up, grain by grain, only to catch your work as it crumbles. My tanned patina of positivity only runs skin deep. Your creativity pitted against erosion, gravity.
Chemically glued, pinned, I’m frozen in the sun, each burnt bronze scale iridescent in its fascial layers. The waves soothe my piecemeal disintegration. Real fairytales don’t require paperwork, but this beach renourishment project was denied for submittal after midnight.
Every life ends with an insurance judge. My haggle with the corporate Sea Witch was inevitable, you didn’t know my perpetual pain was a trade. I sealed the deal with the loan of my legs and voice.
Christa Fairbrother, MA, is the current poet laureate of Gulfport, Florida. Her poetry has appeared in Arc Poetry, Pleiades, and Salamander. She’s been a finalist for The Pangea Prize, The Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She’s had residencies with the Sundress Academy for the Arts, the Bethany Arts Community, and her chapbook, Chronically Walking, was a finalist for the Kari Ann Flickinger Memorial Prize. Water Yoga (Singing Dragon, 2022), her nonfiction book, won medals from the Nautilus Book Awards and the Florida Writers Association. Connect with her at www.christafairbrotherwrites.com.