Arsenic Lobster poetry journal
Issue Twenty
Summer 2009
| Home | Current Issue | Contributors | Review | Order | Archive | Submission | About Us | Contact Us |
 
1,995 ways to tell a bedtime story
Hafizah Geter

when your son asks,
mama, how big is the whole world?
tell him, in spain, emily dickinson
paints a dark and ragged sky.

know, when he speaks of nickels
under pillows and asks you to trace
the genealogy of a unicorn, he has
recognized you for a hoax.

take this time to describe how good
a small lie can be: a unicorn is when i say,
i'm still in love,
but not, my boyfriend is
an ex with only one testicle.
hurt slowly
and watch mistrust turn him into a man.
begin all stories with:

remember, there was a child.
while he sleeps, feet kicking the heat
of night, apologize for everything,
blanket him with the heaviness of your wanting,
and wonder about all the ways he will learn
to hate you.

About Hafizah Geter

| Home | Current Issue | Contributors | Review | Order | Archive | Submission | About Us | Contact Us |