Author: Steven Robertson

OWING to the lighter fluid on the coals
ARRAYED in the grill, my erstwhile facial hair was
SINGEd clean off my face. Quick! Swipe the
DEBIT card for Sharpie markers.

OUT GO the ship needles to make their wakes a
WOVEN tapestry of incomparable blue and white.
OLIVE-colored barnacles bedeck the hulls like rhinestones;
PLANKed strakes and decking creak their froggy rhythms.

GRAND schemes for the day greeted by a
WHIFF wafting from the bakery door; a new
PHASE of planning now entered: consuming
DONUTs until I’m miserable.

BEVEL the hard corners
BEGAT by inexperience or
BRAINy foolishness:
EARTH is full of teachers if we’ll listen.

GOLEM struck with its fist from
DIZZYing heights against its bladed foe who
SLUNK away, broken. A new challenger appears:
PAPER.

GLEAM of the sun sparkling on Rán’s daughters,
TODAY is the day to show the distant shores
EXACTly how well the ravens are fed and the
BILGE of every ship is filled with treasure.

MUCKY river water dangers overcome by the
OTTER who is not alone;
LLAMA wariness for hunters is
EMBEDded in the herd.

CHAMP has right to
BOAST; it was the
GRAVY that made the judges
AMEND their original decision.

SPINY dragon hiding among the
HEDGE branches, slithers as it
BEGINs its approach–suddenly
STUNG by a crushing heel to the head.

IRON Your wrinkles all you want, there’s no
BASIS for believing you’ll escape death, no
WAIVER for the fate that makes our life a
VAPOR, a mist that burns away as the sun rises.