Bot(ship)tle | Amanda N. Butler

Amanda N. Butler is the author of chapbooks “effercrescent” (dancing girl press, 2017), “Tableau Vivant” (dancing girl press, 2015), and “How A Fairy Gets Her Wings” (Origami Poems Press, 2018). Her poems have also appeared in Neon Mariposa Magazine, Royal Rose, Haikuniverse, and more with work forthcoming in Silk + Smoke and Pink Plastic House. She is the current Poet Laureate of Oldsmar, FL. She can be found online at amandanbutler.wordpress.com or on Twitter @arsamandica.   Figureheads of Oak and CloudsThe siren crosses her arms fromher perch on the prowguarding the treasure in her chest.Eye-stars align withthe dragon, jaws paused in scream. Haunches rowed and wings at the steadfast,lash-tides loom.The mermaid, in vain – the dragon, in pride – but the leviathanneous embracegives no second thoughtto its claim.