Poetry

By

Matthew Laverty

Plastic Ocean

Warm waters circle spinning,

as plastic that grows looking for

            its own

will float, and float, and float

            along.

Caught in the rip tides,

a dead fish cannot tell

            if the

            water

            is warm,

as it spins in the tides grip.

Decorations for our beaches,

            plastic will

grow and float, grow and float

            along—

kinetic masses like atoms

            We once

            couldn’t see.

Valentine’s Day

At twenty-two I’ve never had

a valentine.

In the gutter

of the streets of Athens

with Crates,

artificial holidays are

strange, they all are.

Love is a field

to sow, and plow, and reap

its benefits,

just depends on who’s doing

the sowing, and who’s plowing

what and who that is reaping

is maximizing benefits

he tells me.

The streets are gold

if you want them to be.

Matthew Laverty

Matthew Laverty is an aspiring writer from the suburbs of Boston. He is an alumnus of The University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where he earned his B.L.A. degree with dual concentrations in English (Writing) and History. He has studied creative writing under poet Maggie Dietz and critically acclaimed author Andre Dubus III.

His work has appeared in The Offering (the annual literary magazine of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell), Where the Mind Dwells (Eber & Wein), and is forthcoming online at Silver Birch Press in their new feature series, Learning to Drive.