Ethel

Street Address

City, State, Zip

Phone Number

Ethel

Ethel

Nostos Algos

by
Ariel K. Moniz
Ariel K. Moniz (she/her) is a queer Black poetess, artist, and Hawaii local living abroad. She is the winner of the 2016 Droste Poetry Award and a Best of the Net nominee. She holds a B.A in English from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, where she once served as the editor-in-chief of Kanilehua Art & Literary Magazine. Her writing has found homes with Archetype: A Literary Journal, Torch Literary Arts, and Sunday Mornings at the River Press, among others. She is a co-founder and editor of The Hyacinth Review. You can find her through her website at kissoftheseventhstar.home.blog, @kiss.of.the.seventh.star on Instagram, or staring out to sea. Nostos Algos is her debut chapbook.
Purchase Here

from Nostos Algos

Katabasis

I was hiding when you found me—

one eye on the sea, one hand over my heart
the others tied to the fabric of living,
performing everyday things.

And you are there, sad smile, Atlas-shouldered,
berry juice staining the creases in your palms,
dawn mist idle in your hair, like a memory of living.

Oh soft sinner, let your shoulder collide with mine
at the evening’s meal, and let you find me
there between the cheeses and the raw sliced tomatoes
the most appetizing thing at the table.

What a delightful madness, this delicate descent
into these agonizing days, our sandcastles of desire
devoured by the eager kisses of the waves—

two eyes searching for you along the shoreline
tethered to a desperate runaway heart,

two hands gathering impossibly delicate shells
from their familial homes, their intimate graves,

two tender bodies swimming in the golden light
poured generously by the beaming midsummer sun,

two fugitives from the sentence of living
standing on the dusky balcony between promise and release,

trying to translate, without bruising, the silence that feels like home.