dear Burt,

when i pick up my phone
it’s always upside down,
wrong-ways up, flip-flopped
and i try not to do this but
i do arrive at the thought that
my phone is a tarot card
the symbol of Me –
a thing made of numbers
passwords contacts accounts
and sometimes images –
so what does it mean
if by instinct i reverse it?

i’ve started to wonder
if something bad is coming
and i’m here, some poor duck,
an upturned horseshoe,
the luck spilled out of me.

by the way, your dog gets
out of the house every day
around 12, when no one’s home.
he’s back in before anyone notices
(except me. i notice) but i
thought i’d let you know.

your pal,
Ducky Dale

dear Nico,

stuck on this thought lately:
i want to write myself in
to an ’80s movie. any’ll do
            even a slasher
            even if i’m the
            first to die
because in the movies i think
it’s mostly what some time
wanted to be, not so much
the politics or economy or
general strife of reality — so
i guess it does need to be a
specific movie, at least
no serious dramas. something
like mystic pizza or
sixteen candles — yknow?
does it make sense that i
want life to be simple, movie
simple, like childhood without
being a child (powerless).
this real world gums up my head.
my brain is a sticky countertop
& only occasionally, i can
shine it with spit.

oh! i almost forgot —
thanks for dropping those
apples at my door. as
you know, i always try
to keep the doctor away!

musing myself into television static,
Shelley

dear Sadie,

wish i hadn’t laughed it off
when you told me
            kids sniff out fibs like
            drug dogs to dimebags
didn’t listen. even when you said
            trust me it’s their
            life’s work and
            greatest calling,
ever since the meat market
my son won’t stop his talk
about rib-eyes. he clutched
his chest, horrified, lost
momentarily in a thought
where his ribs have eyes,
and i told him (foolish, in a
fumble for magical answers)
            this only happens in cows.
            sometimes a very special cow
            has ribs which decide to
            sprout eyes.
then he says to me
            so we just take
            their special eyes and
                        …eat them?
i haven’t come up with any
good answers yet.

open to (any and all) suggestions,
Myrna F.