Category: Poems

fictions, speculative dreams, and meditations

Delightful Edit

*

I made one change.
And then I shuddered
(with delight).
I kept that edit.

I made one change and shuddered with delight. I kept the edit.

I kept the one that made me shudder.

Quick!

*

I want everybody to chant:
I coulda made-a dugout, and took it to sea
I coulda made-a dugout, and took it to sea
I coulda made-a dugout, and took it to sea

Paraphernalia

Handling my driftwood, Dad says
if I hadn’t broke that chunk out
I coulda made-a dugout,

(the shock
remains after
he finishes)

“and took it to sea.”

Not on my watch!

Your client is at the point of,

Let’s say the 90s,
when sitcoms decided they
no longer needed a laughtrack.

Or, say the 80s,
When television decided it
didn’t need to broadcast
everything in glaring Technicolor.

Or, say the 70s,
When music decided that
not everything needed to be
a stereophonic experience.

Or, say the aughts,
When we decided
Simplicity works.

Only this time he can do something about it.