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Overloading the Machine

With a Wink While I Dream

Two stamps, three bills
my story doesn't fit
like a glove left behind
              on the bus
wary of the last guy
at the last stop, still
angry fist with bell

thumb at Brighton ski shop
filled with bikes on sale
much weather, fewer words
              "We need to get serious
              about measurement."
dripping...
              "You are not fat."
still I don't care
what we get from there
just how we order
              for me—
I finger the heart
splat in the dust
separately wonder
about the soft wine sweater—
              "What if it spills?"

"What's this? Trix? Aunt! Trix? You? You're after the prize! What is it?" He picked up the box and studied the back. "A glow-in-the-dark squid! Have you got it out of there yet?" He tilted the box, angling the little colored balls of cereal so as to see the bottom, and nearly spilling them onto the table top. "Here it is!" He hauled out a little cream-colored, glitter-sprinkled squid, three-inches long and made out of rubbery plastic.

-- James P. Blaylock, "The Last Coin"

This page was last modified on 2011 December 20. "With a Wink While I Dream" by John Sullivan is Copyright ©2003 - 2011, and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.