Togated
Marc Isaac Potter
Is the 1962 Chevy impala with its taillights as pointed
Stubs of red broccoli ?…
Father "throning himself" at our large elliptical oak table
Especially...
custom-made as per my Father's Exacto-knife instructions.
Perhaps You are thinking of the 1961 Chevy impala said Lucille with the slightest air of informed knowledge.
Lucille is one of the teachers at our school and a guest at our table this evening.
Inexplicably
Father is togated
in his massive enormous velvet red bathrobe
As he is every night over his business suit
I had prayed that he would not do this evening but
of course ...
In front of him, the father has 12 Cornish game hens sitting around him in a semicircle cooked to perfection
I had tried to warn Lucille - believe me I begged her - not to come.
My sister Janine wants me to be on the women's soccer team at the high school and Lucille is the coach but also she's my history teacher.
I don't know how to tell this story because I have a slight developmental disability.
You can laugh at me if you want but I'm just trying to tell my own story and a little of Janine's story in my own way.
Together, Another
Marc Isaac Potter
The evacuees were ashes in a large bag. I had begged the general to put each person's ashes in a separate small baggy but when I saw the level of destruction I realized that was impossible
Then I saw the general's face he was freaked out yes really a general freaked out I know it sounds weird
He addressed me as though I were someone of a higher rank than I am
Look young man he said dragging on his camel cigarette:
I have to do something and this is all I think I can do all the ashes are here in one mysterious pile among the rocks.
We will do what we can to individuate the different people.
He put out his camel cigarette and lit another.
Slanted, Present, Prior
Marc Isaac Potter
Her prior sadness,
Thinly wrapping
Her aura is like a mummy
Quite alive on her skin and in the mild way that she sat down in a straight-back chair.
I identified with her, having … …
having lost my own child just 7 months ago
My boy was hit by a stray baseball bat
While her child was shot with a stray bullet
I miss her perky way of attending work meetings.
The boss has told her that she can take as much time as she needs but privately he's saying that if she doesn't increase her work soon he will have to let her go.
Frankly, I'm trying to encourage her just to quit
Even though I myself am still here
I think this boss is too hard on women. I offered to help her find a job somewhere else.
My description of this situation has become incredibly mixed up. Am I being prejudiced myself.?
Marc Isaac Potter (we/they/them) … is a differently-abled writer living in the SF Bay Area.
Marc’s interests include blogging by email and Zen.
They have been published in Fiery Scribe Review, Feral A Journal of Poetry and Art, Poetic Sun Poetry, and Provenance Journal.
Twitter is @marcisaacpotter.