THE BOWSPRIT MERMAID AND THE STEMHEAD DRAGON

THE BOWSPRIT MERMAID AND THE STEMHEAD DRAGON, by Katherine Quevedo, artwork by Simon Walpole

 

 

From wooden mouths above the deep,

From oaken tongues upon the swell,

When figureheads arouse from sleep

To greet each other’s ships, they tell

The tragedy of the bowsprit mermaid and the stemhead dragon.

 

Two sculptures clad in crisscross scales

And carved into each noble prow

Beheld each other through the gales

And dipped with curtsy or with bow—

The courtship of the bowsprit mermaid and the stemhead dragon.

 

To dance upon the waves was not

Enough. They longed to join and steal

A rapt’rous kiss, and so they fought

Against each rudder and ship’s wheel.

The folly of the bowsprit mermaid and the stemhead dragon!

 

Two wooden mouths that dared to meet,

Two oaken tongues that risked a touch

Had doomed their crews and made complete

The curse of those who pine too much:

The collision of the bowsprit mermaid and the stemhead dragon.

 

Two wooden mouths within the deep,

Two oaken tongues beneath the swell

Reveal the hidden dragon’s keep

And mermaid’s final slumber-shell—

The ghost song of the bowsprit mermaid and the stemhead dragon.

 

Now other figureheads cry out,

“Maintain your course!” They envy us

Our human choice to move about,

To change, connect, and love—and thus,

Our calling from the bowsprit mermaid and the stemhead dragon.

 

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Katherine Quevedo was born and raised just outside of Portland, Oregon, where she works as an analyst and lives with her husband and two sons.  Her poetry received an honorable mention in the 2020 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest, and has appeared or is forthcoming in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review, The Common Tongue Magazine, The Periodical, Forlorn, Honeyguide Literary Magazine, Nonbinary Review, Pastel Pastoral, Into the Glen: Into the Light, Coffin Bell, Sidequest and elsewhere.  Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Fireside Magazine, and elsewhere.  Find her at www.katherinequevedo.com

 

Simon Walpole has been drawing for as long as he can remember and is fortunate to spend his freetime working as an illustrator. He primarily use pencils, pens and markers and use a bit of digital for tweaking. As well as doing interior illustrations for various publishing formats he has also drawn a lot of maps for novels. his work can be found at his website HandDrawnHeroes.