Misattribution Poem by Richard George

When Satan emerged in 1830 Benbecula
doves of stones proclaimed the peace of God.
Only when the corpse
washed up did He reveal the truth:
a minikin, willowly mature,
pearl as the underwings
of birds that shear white horses.
Around her form, spawned by guilt
the myth barnacled: mermaid.

Last September, Western Cape.
A white woman with wrack for hair
is glimpsed in a river at midnight.
Her eyes blossom red
in a Babel of torches
and her soul-skewering howl -
'Kaaiman! ' - invokes a naiad-kelpie.
In awe they leave the young wife
to commit suicide.

There are no mermaids.
There are women in water who drown.