Juan de Espinosa’s Still-Life with Shell Fountain and Flowers (1645)

Clam Tears

Wrecker of my edge, you champ! 

Magnesium for the butterflies and 

salted butter for the silly olde cod, 

a diamond,

making its way down toward the brackish bottom of Venice,

feet, fingers, meatballs, and seamen, and spectacles,

bitter oils, fruit baskets, whips, combs, and canes,

a mountain of leaders, 

a bridge of billygoats, 

admission for a pound of pork.

Montana James Thomas lives and works in New York City. His poetry has been featured in Hanging Loose Magazine, Forever Magazine and Blush Lit, among others. He’s the author of The Stink, a column about smell and culture in Byline. His chapbook, POMERANIAN, was released through Dirt Child Press in 2023. His debut full-length poetry collection, Concerning the Dinner, is available for preorder through Everybody Press.