—An In-titled Poem[1] 

The oar-less scow coasts kilter-less to shore,
as sailors bear their torches, scratch their itches
to scrawl, crochet, stir stew, chew steak, sew stitches…
It blows to be this crew—to slosh, so sore,
across the water—bitter, sea-sick sots!
How wet their hair, socks, crotches, blotches, bits!
How slack those hacks’ trite stares, how weak their wits!
Whose talk that’s worth its salt walks with the trots?
What art is this whose thirst’s a horse to slake?
The wretch is lost whose bottle lacks its scotch.
The scribe’s at sea whose airs are shit she swabs.
It’s rare a thick-wit’s cracks are wise to take.
With each raw crow i eat, or task i botch,
a coarser, staler art with this wreck bobs…

Stephanie L. Harper is a neurodivergent poet, mother, and Oregonian transplant now living in Indianapolis, IN—with both the world’s most adorable husband and cat—where she earned her MFA from Butler University. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Crab Creek Review, The Iowa Review, Laurel Review, The Night Heron Barks, Pleiades, Salamander Magazine, and elsewhere.

[1]The In-titled Poem, Stephanie L. Harper’s invented poetry form, is composed exclusively of the letters appearing in its title, with no letter occurring within any single word in the poem more times than it does in its title.