A Seahorse’s Short Manifesto on Romance

I choose the vernacular
of dance—a small silent s,

and sway with you
in oceanic nothingness

like an aquatic spirit,
ethereal, letting form

define me. I do not have
to speak. In the curve

of your body, there is
no such thing as secret.

I know you without
knowing. A mystery—

each morning,
you appear,

a little question
at my side—still

with emotion. We spin,
a lathe of love, tails

locked like slender
fingers inscribing

our names,
the tiny history of us

into the seabed beneath
coral—no other future

in sight, no other shape
for us to consider.

Hollie Dugas

Hollie Dugas lives in New Mexico. Her work has been included in Barrow Street, Reed Magazine, Qu, Redivider, Porter House Review, EPOCH, Salamander, Poet Lore, The Louisville Review, The Penn Review, Breakwater Review, Third Coast, RHINO, Sixth Finch, Gordon Square Review, Phoebe, Broad River Review, and Louisiana Literature.  Additionally, “A Woman’s Confession #5,162” was selected as the winner of Western Humanities Review Mountain West Writers’ Contest (2017). Hollie has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and for inclusion in Best New Poets. Most recently, her poem was selected as winner of the 22nd Annual Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize at CALYX, in addition to, the 2022 Heartwood Poetry Prize. She was also a finalist in the Atlanta Review’s 2022 International Poetry Contest.

Contributions by Hollie Dugas