“Scaradh” by Tyler Thier

after Pond Lillies (1971) by Jack Beal

The path a granite mirror                                     A visitor asks for directions
beneath us in the Green                                        in the shadow of a stone arch

       We talk of Lucia Joyce lost                      And we laugh as the tram
        to her leviathan elders                            wails behind balustrade

                 And circle the fairy                     Obscuring the townhouse
                 ring devoted to Yeats                   and storefront glade

                                               Over bridge we pause
                                                    and talk all day

                                                   Until we talk on
                                                     the way home

                                          And a swan sinks its tendril
                                           in the sun-­blotched pond.

Tyler is an adjunct professor and freelance film critic living in Brooklyn. His previous publications include the New York Public Library Zine, After the Pause, The Ekphrastic Review, Tuck Magazine, and Film Matters Magazine, with professional readings of his one-act play in New York City and Toronto. When not rooting himself in academia, he can most likely be found hiding in a cozy corner of some local pub.