—WHATCHA DOING?

 Flash-drive

People ask if I’m

having trouble breathing.
They say my
neck’s begun to droop
like a noose
that I’m
becoming diaphanous.
I sort of believe them.
When I put my arm
through my torso
it comes out of my
back bloodless
pain free
with Jazz Hands
and squiggly fingers.
So to them I say
You’ve got a sharp eye!
I say Thanks for noticing!
I say Best not get too close
in case it’s catching.
I stay busy
picking scabs all day.
That’s going to leave a mark! they say.
Dimwit, a scab means it’s healing! they say.
Maybe I’m just an old filmstrip
black and white stop-motion
or a thumb drive stashed in box
waiting for temptation to take hold.
I have to remember that
nothing matters
if you think it doesn’t.
Nothing lasts forever
though I’ll be sure
to be on time
when I die.

 

Clearance Sale

In the storefront window

I see my taxidermied heart for sale
on the clearance shelf
along with used baby shoes
and my mother’s favorite blonde wig.
Why every woman wants to blonde is a mystery
as slippery as Mom was.
The clerk gives me stink-eye for staring too long,
taps the glass with his hairy knuckles
so I’ll notice the No Loitering sign.
I should tell him about the fire
that burned down my siblings,
how they squealed helpless in the flames.
I should ask him what the going rate is
for a set of charred bones and teeth,
one with fool’s gold in the back molar.

 

Mother and the Wolf

The wolf and I meet at midnight

in darkness where no one can see us.
I’ve brought my flamboyant despair again
but the wolf says he’s fed up with leftovers and
rips five irrigation ditches across my face.
I scream but the only sound that
comes out is a hiss of smoke
which makes the wolf convulse with laughter,
his spittle dotting my forehead.
Mother said having scars meant
you worked with your hands,
that you’d made something and had
made something of yourself in the process.
She could spin a tale, that woman.
If she were still alive she’d
probably say I’d imagined the wolf
and the claw marks dripping blood.
She’d call me dramatic and needy, say
No supper for you.  To your room now.
Lights off.