solitude
stone
tranquil repose
a grasshopper’s respite
in this cloistered silence
solitude
In an alternate Timeline
a few clicks removed from
this one on the planet-sized
Dial of Possibilities
I am writing and directing
a one-of-a-kind series of
12-minute films for adults
most of them comedies
some in black-and- white
all of them starring you.
She was born to seek happiness in others
And to be pensive
While creative
But they meant for her to be aside
Not get in their way
Be available for show when necessary.
So her countenance changed
To suit them
While she was still there.
But she refused to lie for them
And so when not allowed to lie outwardly
She held the truth in
Until one day it tried
To cut her in half.
Excited hands
wrecked
the small
neatly wrapped
red package
with a silver bow
then
discovered
the blue box
within—
a gift of
Noxema
for
a
tween.
The obnoxiously
loud
astringent
wiped
away
fragile
confidence
leaving
a
squeaky
clean
zero
esteem.
lazy back porch afternoon
iced tea and fig bars
he watched birds tending
young in nearby nest
thought came to mind
father calls to his son
let’s get some dinner
and see a movie
anything playing you’d like?
father saw what he wanted
a smile on his son’s face
1974, first hairstyle;
a shag that cuts a figure
around my face.
I am a barn with a gambrel roof.
Ideas, already contemporary,
are inspired, larger.
Several sashes are my eyelids,
counterweighted with books,
going up and down with pulley and rope,
detail characteristic interior functions within.
This is new math.
