Girl and Snail by Somefield

For Rapunzel

Forgiveness moves

inside me at a snail’s pace

it    s l i t h e r s,

 

   weaves

                 a

   silvery

                 maze

                          elaborate

   enough

   to prevent

                          Vengeance

   an escape

 

she seats

at window’s edge

but does not her golden tresses tend

instead she cultivates

venom for retaliation day.

 

 

La Babosa soy yo

Red Shoes by Nicola Slattery

To Dorothy

I have worn them once
My silk shoes
Purchased white
Dyed blood red
For wedding day
With them on, ground
Turns to magic carpet
Bedouin tents flap in wind
Weary travelers revel
Silver bowls filled with pomegranets
Offer secrets of a thousand rubies
Adam did not fall for jewels
But for the juice of a fruit
Like the crimson Fuji’s
I harvest each fall
From my backyard tree
When leaves rusty,
Crunchy underfoot
Layer the ground.