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"Wheelie!" by Perrin Clore Duncan

Two Poems by Shannon K. Winston

When the Speech Therapist Told Me to Say the Letter "S," I Opened My Mouth

and daffodils & azaleas & watercress & fireflies
sprung from my lips. The speech therapist
stared: you can’t even pronounce the letter that begins
your own name
. I tried again. Nothing,
nothing, & lilacs, clover, the moistest dirt.
Imagine my surprise when swallows, sparrows,
& weeping willows curved up from behind my molars.
Why are you so distracted by the simplest task?
How sweet the onion grass, daffodils,
& burdock root behind my teeth. Just focus
on the task at hand. Read the letters on the page.

I’ve always fumbled over the most basic tasks.
S, right after R, as in rose. As in this thorn
wedged between my teeth. Beauty’s
sharpest edge. Again and again, my tongue
rubbed up against it until it bled.
Just say something, she urged.
I muttered: it hurts.

Stories
believe me

tell me a story

a woman placed her baby

in a basket and sent it downriver

with a blanket and two coins

talismans for safe passage

nothing about this is real

doctors said a week or two at most

lungs collapse like matchsticks

there were no other options

maybe there's more to the story

a woman, a baby, a river

arrange the details so they matter

mud beneath her feet

did she lean in to whisper:

I dreamed there was no baby

just a box of basil and cardamom

O' these seeds of this story

may the details ripen

like a nectarine 

in my mouth


deceive me

spin me a tale

a woman put snapdragons

in a box under her bed

with basil and cardamom

amulets for richer dreams

everything about this is real

doctors are only for the weak

lungs radiate with matchstick light

there are always options

maybe that's all there is to it

a woman, snapdragons, a dreamer

arrange details willy-nilly

plum carpet under her toes

did she lean in to whisper:

I dreamed I was sent down river

in a basket with a blanket

O' these fragments of this myth

may the details recede

like the two coins lost

in the folds of my coat pocket




Shannon K. Winston's work has appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Rogue Agent, and Crab Orchard Review, among others. Her first poetry collection, Threads Give Way (Cold Press), was published in 2010. She earned her MFA at Warren Wilson College, and she currently teaches in Princeton University’s Writing Program. 

Perrin Clore Duncan, from Oklahoma, graduated from DePauw University in May 2017 with a B.A. in Economics and Studio Art. Her work has been shown and published in Ireland, the United States, and worldwide through online publications. Perrin currently pursues her M.F.A. at the Burren College of Art in Ireland.
​
Visit her on instagram at @perrincloreduncan.art or at her WEBSITE.
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