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Sherri Alms's avatar

After

I am

one wasp wing

fog

sunlight in a wood

loose white thread on your shirt

ant on the kitchen counter

sliver of soap

a day in February

ever since the crow

landed on our roof

and your heart

flew off in its mouth

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Meg Pokrass's avatar

this is stunning. Yes, that ending!

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Sherri Alms's avatar

Thanks, Meg!

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Guy Cramer's avatar

Wowza! Amazing— that ending! 🔥

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Sherri Alms's avatar

Thank you, Guy!

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Pamela Pescosolido's avatar

Becoming a ghost through ghosting myself

I once was invisible

I once was a ghost

I wondered if I spoke

Would sound leave my mouth?

Living alone for years,

Days on end pass with

Not a word spoken,

Not another human seen.

I go to a store,

Using the self-checkout lane,

Not even a human at a register

To notice my existence.

If I even exist anymore

At all.

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Meg Pokrass's avatar

Well done! The feeling isolation is palpable.

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Sherri Alms's avatar

Ghosting myself is powerful and the poem as a whole is heartbreaking. The self-checkout lane is terrible and perfect. I wonder if there are images as strong as that line and ghosting myself for ghost and invisible.

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Pamela Pescosolido's avatar

Thanks.

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Guy Cramer's avatar

Pamela this is remarkable, beautiful and tragic all at once. I echo Sherri’s statement, the self-checkout lane hooks you at the end. Wonderful ✨

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Pamela Pescosolido's avatar

Thank you, too!

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Guy Cramer's avatar

You Wonder

Why has nothing grown?

Where are the orchards,

The stalks blazing gold?

Not why a good tree yields bad fruit

—but no fruit.

I’ve endured rain, teasing sun,

Beds of moldy straw,

Even roadsigns I’ve placed

professing I’m ready to give everything

Haven’t earned a glance.

I stand

Arms spread east to west

Mouth and eyes wading in silence

Waiting for a breeze, a draft,

As one crow lands next to another.

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Meg Pokrass's avatar

This is sad and lovely Guy. Deserves a scarecrow photo accompaniment. So visual, this piece. x

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Guy Cramer's avatar

Thank you so much Meg! I love how this prompt was open to either micro story or a poem, I have been trying to get back into writing poetry, I had taken a break for quite a while as I have been focusing of flash and short stories, this is just what I needed 😊

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Sherri Alms's avatar

Haunting. And somehow of this moment. I'm reading Antidote right now and a scarecrow is a character in the novel.

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Guy Cramer's avatar

Awesome! Thank you Sherri!

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Pamela Pescosolido's avatar

Scarecrows are inherently lonely figures. Even the crows ignore them.

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Guy Cramer's avatar

Love that you caught that— thank you for reading Pamela! 🙏🏼

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Cheryl Snell's avatar

Visit

While I look up at our old house, I imagine the rooms as they once were: crystal doorknobs, raised roses climbing painted walls, sun pouring through windows that let in the ghost. I go inside. Whatever haunted me is silent now. Where did it go? I never got an answer, although I called out through the years of nights. But now the air flutters with wings. Something is whispering words I can’t bear to hear.

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