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 Clouds
The siren crosses her arms from
her perch on the prow
guarding the treasure in her chest.
Eye-stars align with
the 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 embrace
gives no second thought
to its claim.