D.O.A.

Inspired by Ann Charters’ nightmare

Photo courtesy of Yours Truly. Minneapolis, July 2023

I shut my eyes and imagine the
satisfying scrape of the knife paring
clean my bones,
used to scribble in future quarterlies

the writer’s bifocals are smudged with
facial grease, adjusted throughout the
short days of citations, half-assed cold press,
half-smoked cigarettes, half-ass…