Pick apart literature never quite getting to the point
Chafe fertility using scissors and tape
Compose a song about circles while pacing back and forth
Stage an intervention for science while hiccuping
Send your love to hats obsequiously
Repress all memories of a distant frightening sound as if for an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie
Wail annoyingly about memory while muttering the word kill under your breath
Tickle Kokopellis with occasional shrieks
Scream at lint muffled, as though from underneath a fur coat
Go into raptures about etiquette then demand people pay you for it
Snarkily dismiss earthquakes on sticky notes
Shout something at cable news because you have no other choice

# # #

David M. Alper is a high school AP English teacher in New York City, residing in Manhattan. His work has appeared in The Northridge Review, Tilde Lit, Obra/Artifact, Glassworks Magazine, and elsewhere.

Photo: Jeff Sheldon