Bestiary
Three aggressive swans fall
in love with my daughter’s Tickle
Me Elmo.
I fail again
to observe the Feast
of Saint George.
So we drink.
Faces real and imagined,
flawed and remade
with cosmetics,
trade places.
So we drink and wash
the cheeks of dirty turtles.
We fail again
to completely fill
the crude alligator
form with plastic
and can only imagine
the edges that should be
smooth to the touch.
About the Author: Glen Armstrong holds an MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He edits a poetry journal called Cruel Garters and has a forthcoming book of prose poems: Invisible Histories. His work has appeared in Poetry Northwest, Conduit,and Cream City Review.
Image Credit: Frans Snyders “Cygnes effrayes par des chiens” Public Domain
As It Ought To Be 