Littoral Couplets by Jaydn DeWald

first sweat

then glitter

beneath her

i was an orb

of vapor slow-

dissolving

bari sax

for sunrise

double bass for

humid nights

she wailed

across the moon-

lit waters

like a ship

once

in a salt cave

i licked

a wall until my

tongue bled

the dawn rose

at the nape

of her neck

later

in the crushed

mica

on my chest

she traced

a cabin

hum for me

she whispered

the ballad

on the gramo-

phone inside

often then

i sensed her

in darkness

sheared my

white hair

the shore’s scent

the ship’s wail

i hurled my

shadow upon

her shadow

in the sand

_________________________

Jaydn DeWald is a writer, educator, jazz bassist, and the author of the essay collection Sheets of Sound: Notes on Music & Writing (forthcoming from Broken Sleep Books in 2020) as well as several limited-edition chapbooks. He is Assistant Professor of English & Director of Creative Writing at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia, USA.