shot glass
title
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Richard Widerkehr


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The Whale's Eye

- written after Chloe's old friend sends me this thank you card from
the Museum of Natural History

We cannot know if my sister read or even opened
your letter I forwarded to her, cannot know
if she remembers the blue whale suspended

from a wire in that atrium tall as our school
auditorium where Mrs. Stoges read us psalms
about gates and thrones. The whale's small eye...

If Chloe hears voices, wears her ragged hood,
listens to talk radio about living off the grid...
Stars aren't stars, bro, she says, snow isn't snow.