It's Still Life

The I In It

The Daily Annoyances of Being a Pretzel

My shoes are on a floor mat and I’m wearing one of those crinkly sounding procedure gowns that feels like paper … sitting, waiting for the doctor, and I spin off a few minutes looking through the window at dense summer green and misty rain as a swan rises and walks like Christ across water, something it does every day, unfurls, as it must, its wings over soggy litter on the brackish stillness of the hospital’s memorial fish pond, and as I wonder what Gaia must think of us, I notice a deep scuff mark on the tip of my shoe from when I misstepped on the escalator at the rail station and a man standing in front of me grabbed my arm like a fragile pretzel and set me vertical again.

For dVerse Poets Prosery, include the phrase “every day unfurls as it must” by Adrienne Su, “Oolong” from Peach State, (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021). Some artwork is created using Midjourney AI, and is identified as such in the ALT text or captioned. Images are copyright and not to used without permission, which I willingly give when asked, and when not for commercial use. Imagery and poems/prose ©Misky 2006-2024.