Glendalien Prophecy

Catapulted from a great distance, the stuffed yellow bear flails his short limbs over the dense forest canopy. He lands through a clearing in the trees and continues to skid through the sediment, unsettling the dirt and detritus, leaving a trail with his stubby yellow feet. He stops just before the edge, where I am standing. "I'm at the edge of a glen," he says. "This must be Glendale 1907," I reply. We stare down at the river. Reflections of a large patchwork of farmland flow by, slipping away forever.

Synesthesia

one alone is white
two is blue or red
yellow is yellow
Y-E-eleven-O-W
orange is three
lemon is a newspaper
nine can be green this time
camouflaged in brown
pink is never a color
but sometimes a candy

one alone is always white
but ten is black
and multiples of ten
base ten
solemn and serious
like the count of so many deaths
grouped in tens
hundreds
thousands
hundred thousands
in all-absorbing black

the colors in between
have numbers and flavors
and one alone is white

Barbies

Despite my persistent pleading, my parents never bought me a Ken doll for a more balanced gender population with my dozen plus Barbies. I needed a creative solution and I found one. The Barbies all became lesbians, kissing and fondling each other when my parents weren't looking.

Haiku

The spongy tissue
soaks up enough water to
swell beyond measure.


Too much tension does
force a snap and a collapse
reducing to ash.


Brittle twigs and branch
without recovery from fall
cannot survive spring.

The Jump

The distance to the ground from this new height
seems miles away, pulled down to earth below
by force, by laws of physics should they know
her weak foothold, even with hands clenching tight.
She sinks down to the next close branch in sight,
her muscles shake and tremble as joints bow
and buckle under pressure as they go
in turn, to scale back down but still not quite.

When almost there, concerned that she might fall,
recoils, and hugs still closer to the tree.
She peeks beneath her arms to view it all,
consider here or there, she wants to be
on solid ground. Time halts its stall,
she jumps, breath held, now able to be free.

Infection

In a crowded waiting room, you take the only vacant seat, between a sleeping old man and a wheezing woman with puffy, drooping cheeks. You look down, focusing on the throbbing, pea-sized hole on your forearm. The ooze rises and falls with each pulse. When you look up again, the room is empty except for the wheezing woman. She is louder now, exhaling her disease to fill the air. She is staring at you. Trying not to breathe too much, you tuck your chin and curl into yourself. Something moves beneath your skin. Your wound flutters now, as a fly emerges, squeezing its wings through the opening, escaping to open air. Two more squirm through. Finally, a worm peeks out. It snakes through your whole body, pulling itself from the corners of each extremity. It coils itself on the floor at your feet. The flies circle it. The woman is silent.

Sudden Moustache

Lifting her skirt in front of the mirror, for a better view of her new, zebra-striped wedges, she discovers thick, pubic-like hair covering her legs. She looks up to find a solid moustache framing her upper lip.
She opens the door and steps outside, watching the man on the opposite hill peel large sheets of bright blue paint from the exterior of his house, revealing a rich purple underneath. He stops to wipe the sweat from his face and admire his work. He waves at the girl and she waves back. The ocean swells between them.

Glass Mastication

A thin glass breaks rather easily
in the jaw: tearing the gums,
the lips, and the tongue.
(The trick is to chew quickly
and swallow frequently,
before the blood begins to drip.)

A thick glass does not break—
but with the same pressure
does chip the teeth,
grinding them down to
gaping, bloody roots.

Swallowing the sanguine saliva
will upset digestion,
acidic peristalsis mixing
two vital fluids
where only one belongs
may induce vomiting.

Black & White

Within the shadow’s burning black,
a turn of faith can turn you back
or lead you onward to attack

the darkness ‘til it turns to light
enfolding everything in sight,
a newly brightened beam of white.