Somniosus microcephalus (Sabbatical)

the studio has become a monastery
filled with the ghosts of Greenland sharks
sleeper sharks, blind and long-lived

leaving teeth marks on your scissor collection
inhaling entire masterpieces, rapidly digesting
everything you left unfinished

apex ego predator, fishy magician of the
anima and animus within you, yin-yang
of once must-tell story-telling

not lost, only forgotten
awaiting inspiration and invocation.

[RK, 5/26/2023]

Cinderella

snow falls on cinders in a public park fire pit
near the lakeshore, iced over, over easy

a convenient marriage for this sister in her
Victoria’s Secret see-through glass shoe

she rakes the ashes of the past, imagines sparks
flickers, heat, a pot of stone soup above a fire

tangos with the dream of abandoning
the falsity of fairy-tale romances

[RK, 5/26/2023]