Page 94 - Vol. VI #3

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evenings when loneliness clouded Etta’s vision with milky lashes of gloom, she would say pass the lemons
just to watch him race to flush the toilet.
Odysseus Rex
who knows why these things happen. whether nurture or nature, Odysseus was never going to be able to hold the job of service he trained for.
never turn on the lights for Etta before she entered a room or press
the crosswalk button at the corner.
perhaps Odysseus was Ferdinand, the bull of childhood, more attentive to the crevices of Spanish flowers than the appeal of sewing
with the needle of his horns
the tight jewelled pants of decoratively-heroic picadors.
against child locks, he was thwarted
in the press to open the fridge for ...?
he gathered wallet, keys, and remotes under the bed in hoards of safekeeping.
Odysseus herded Etta safe from ghosts barking diligent notification of imaginary fire. overwhelmed into uselessness
he worked himself into the faithful lather only the dog-hearted can.
stePhanie roBerts