Mantis 21 (Summer 2023)
To Raise a Glass, or Down It

Jeff Schiff


They’ll drunk

or sun-lulled or too too

to give a good goddamn

leave their flotsam

bobbing

or snagged on windfall branches

where the draft is too shallow

for eco-conscience to prevail

or where snappers are rumored

and one dare not toe in

stuff chucked in vengeance

stuff that’s knocked or slips over gunwale

or off deck rails

commemorative hats family reunion kit

orphaned sandals

dead soldier empties

Chardonnay bottles that’ll one day wash up

messaging no one

with nothing to say


JEFF SCHIFF is the author of With light enough to braille me next ward (MAMMOTH books, 2023); They: A Letter to America; That hum to go by; Mixed Diction; Burro Heart; The Rats of Patzcuaro; The Homily