SKATING A GLACIER

when I write I
tend to skate the
surface – I tell you
a story I even make
it fancy give you
axels, double-axels,
plié – but I fear to
scrape beneath the
glacier – it’s been
years in formation to
freeze out emotion who
knows what doth really
lurk beneath – if I poke
at such a carcass it may
unleash thick maggots or
perhaps it’s more like a
cocoon – where inside
dwells a
butterfly.

-Ryn Gargulinski.12.16.10

GHOULS

we wondered if
the child knew he
looked like a ghoul as he
sat on the bleachers at
pinnacle peak while a wild
west with slapstick thrilled the
audience – with gunshots and
a barrel that leaked. we learned
later the kid was with a
whole ghoulish trope who
dropped by in a hearse to
sell their parties – (yet) that
did not stop the
audience from
staring – or whispered
titters pointed fingers at the
child – glaring flashbacks of
me in first grade.

-ryngargulinski.2010