Vol 1 No 2 2007
from 31 words * prose poems
[# 22]
she is merry gets sullen. she is airy yet woolen. she is fairy net fallen. she is larry met ellen. she is prairie sweat pollen. she is starry, wet, swollen. unstolen.
[#23]
a student’s final paper sets the stage for alice walker’s work: feminism was necessary, she writes, because they put women on petal-stools. frankly, i might have stayed on one of those.
[#24]
jena six fix mix tree free flee loose noose use right fight indict race case disgrace law raw flaw jail fail derail lives drives knives stroke choke folk fell rebel fare-thee-well
[#25]
you deserve a decent love poem, but this indecent one must do: my ardor’s totally exposed—it’s truly unruly and goes naked in public places. happily, it has never been arrested.
[#26]
for sale: thirty-one words. hard-to-find. very good condition, but lightly foxed. some fading. normal wear. previous owner’s aesthetic preferences faintly visible. slight odor of libraries. six gazillion dollars or best offer.
[#27]
aracelis gives me a bracelet : czechoslovakian ice? light turquoise beads : a rope of ocean, string of fierce faceted words, chain of spring-sky : i fear the carolina sun : glass she repeats, laughing
[The first 13 poems in this ongoing series were published as a chapbook, 31 words * prose poems, by Belladonna* Books in 2007.]
Evie Shockley