Size / / /

Yesterday I watched a tiny man climb up my rose bush.

Today I saw a woman dangling from a cloud above my house.

Just now, a cobra slithered under my computer's keyboard,

a miniature transcendental Pope sits cross-legged on my mouse

chanting "om" as flames gnaw at the lino in the kitchen;

my toes crawled off to eat some grass,

my hair ran away with my teeth,

said they had better things to do

like go to the sea. Who knows why?

A fly crawled up my nose and I spat him out,

he said he knew the truth

but couldn't tell me because it was a lie.

My eight-year-old was an alien from Nibiru

searching for Atlantis in the kitchen sink and my

teenager played house with a girl down the road.

My husband's horns have started to curl

and his cheeks have sprouted tusks.

This world is too much to endure.

I slithered on my belly to the front yard

where the ants and millipedes promised

safe transport to a realm of beauty and grace

where all my parts stay where they should.

I fear the insects lied—

this place looks maddeningly familiar

and the woman

dangling from the cloud

looks a lot like me . . .




Sharon lives in Erwin, Tennessee with her husband and daughter. Her poetry has appeared in over a dozen anthologies and magazines, both online and in print, and more of her poetry is slated to appear in other publications throughout 2009 and 2010. You can find out more about Sharon at her website, Inkspot.
Current Issue
22 Apr 2024

We’d been on holiday at the Shoon Sea only three days when the incident occurred. Dr. Gar had been staying there a few months for medical research and had urged me and my friend Shooshooey to visit.
...
Tu enfiles longuement la chemise des murs,/ tout comme d’autres le font avec la chemise de la mort.
The little monster was not born like a human child, yelling with cold and terror as he left his mother’s womb. He had come to life little by little, on the high, three-legged bench. When his eyes had opened, they met the eyes of the broad-shouldered sculptor, watching them tenderly.
Le petit monstre n’était pas né comme un enfant des hommes, criant de froid et de terreur au sortir du ventre maternel. Il avait pris vie peu à peu, sur la haute selle à trois pieds, et quand ses yeux s’étaient ouverts, ils avaient rencontré ceux du sculpteur aux larges épaules, qui le regardaient tendrement.
We're delighted to welcome Nat Paterson to the blog, to tell us more about his translation of Léopold Chauveau's story 'The Little Monster'/ 'Le Petit Monstre', which appears in our April 2024 issue.
For a long time now you’ve put on the shirt of the walls,/just as others might put on a shroud.
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Issue 12 Feb 2024
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