(CSA Images)
Amethysts like the day closing down, chignon
a neat storm cloud. Something fished for
in an alligator clutch, her lips a red secret.
Her poodle lifts its teeny leg, perfuming the sidewalk’s
cabbagy foliage, shimmering as
headlights come on. Nameless animal, relative
of Peanut who sped beneath the fence
and back, all of us laughing, salting cantaloupe.
Letter in hand, mouth the waxen seal on an envelope
broke open, irrevocably. Her pet—empty, joyful,
curious—tugs her forward into the wilderness.
Published in the July/August 2026 issue: View Contents