Interview

Thank you Beth, for the prompt,” avatar”.
The Sanskrit noun avatāra is derived from the verbal root tṝ "to cross over", joined with the prefix ava "off , away , down".


Interview

“If you could be any animal
what would you be?”

I thought about it
carefully considered
my options
I knew
the right answer
knew
what she wanted me to say:
"lion"

knew
if I said lion
it would be a shoe in

I spoke plainly
through my throat:
”dolphin"

she looked injured,
why a dolphin?

water,
I said.

Murmur

Murmur

speckled trout murmur
below blue ice
still in a dream

Comma

Thanks to Nathalie for this week's prompt, hesitation.


"Three things are good in little measure and evil in large: yeast, salt and hesitation."
-The Talmud

"I use my single windup, my double windup, my triple windup, my hesitation windup, my no windup. I also use my step-n-pitch-it, my submariner, my sidearmer, and my bat dodger. Man's got to do what he's got to do."
-Satchel Paige




Commas

she woke
to find herself
covered in commas

she felt accidental:
a prairie ransomed
to ameloid sprawl

reasonable doubts
sprouted
like freckles
on a fair day

a mother’s regular
hemstitch
whined

the little red book
preached
purity

she remembered
the night
she threw the moon out
she shook
like a cat
loose of bother


a laugh
took hold
in her withers
shaking like a sheet,
a freshly laundered sheet.