Creature
by Cheryl Dumesnil
It had the chrome-scaled body
of a sardine, pointed blue wings,
a barn swallow’s, a sewer rat’s
ringed tail and yellow teeth.
It coughed blue sparks, thrashed
in the ice plant as I stepped up
on the curb outside her house.
Hung from its neck, a dog tag
read: Love. Which explains why
I was scared to touch it, or walk away.
Down the Mountain
by Judy Halebsky
Take me as nothing left
lift me twisted through granite and moss
water lung, milk waist, sage
I pass through these pages like a ghost
erase my shape in the sun on the porch
brown my skin into the riverbed
push my words into a lullaby
paper lung
milk waist and sage
whatever I came with exhausted
I pass through these pages like a ghost
whatever I came with I spent
Late Night Violin Practice with Margarita
by Scott Young
I have recently taken up violin
and margaritas, though
not necessarily in that order.
It begins with lime, salt and
enough tequila to feel it in your nose
when you exhale,
enough lime to make you pucker up
a bit, and salt to make you thirsty
so you’ll take another sip.
This paves the way for Lesson 1:
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
written by Mozart when he was just 3
and the first song taught
on every instrument I’ve ever played.
A song I must have heard a thousand times.
More. But, until now, never understood,
or even liked. Taste the lime, exhale,
play it again. It’s nice. Melodic. Just six notes.
Same six notes in Go Tell Aunt Rhody,
which is Lesson 3. Only two strings so far.
‘Why,’ my daughter asked earlier, her head tilted sideways
to hold the violin on her thin shoulder,
‘why does Aunt Rhody want to know?’
Myself, I always thought she loved the old goose
and wanted to mourn it, but perhaps,
my daughter opined, she simply wanted to eat it.
A quandary. Another sip. Another.
Lesson 7: Long Long Ago, seven notes. Coincidence?
I think not. Even more momentous—the third string.
Complexity, resonance, possibility. Judicious swallow.
All are in bed and night enfolds the house.
Lesson 9: Perpetual Motion—My life:
It ends and there is silence
it begins and there is music and
somewhere in between
drinking.
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