By John Leonard

It’s ok to crave the velvet leakage of an iron chain.
This is life! And lately, has no rules.  Although, a stone may 
tell you something different or a man reading from 
the flayed and pulped and thinned meat of trees
could easily pull you into an illusory system.

What was it he said again?   I wasn’t listening.

I was trying to tie my heart into various balloon animals,
like a party trick I’ve secretly known for decades, 
never to reveal. 

If you pass me on the street, perhaps I’ll mug you and knock you 
upside your head with my posh and highly overengineered  
	
                  *20oz Alpine Yellow Yeti Rambler Tumbler *

I’ve forgotten where I came from.  

The velvet again.  

This time, as I watch a flock of Ring-billed Gulls standing jobless 
in the crumbling parking lot of a dying strip mall.  
		
		      *Unsanctioned Mid Century Modern Art prints on Etsy *

It can be a bit too soft, the way the mind turns fibulas into butter
all while stretching the pin-light of your pupil into a Precambrian ocean.

And that’s all they ever talk about!   Swooning and elderberry tea.

If not for the chain, I’d drown myself in nighttime jogs while wearing my

		        *Size 11.5 men’s Karhu Ikoni Hivo 2.0’s in Colonial Blue/Morning Mist*

I’d make my may through an unmaintained dog park with a mad florist 
hot on my heals, waving a pair of pruning shears that glisten 
like spilled Mercury in the moonlight.  

It’s ok to steal flowers.  I give you my permission.
Wipe your feet before you enter. 

 

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About the Author:

John T. Leonard is a writer and educator who serves as editor-in-chief of Rawhead and managing editor of 42 Miles Press and The Glacier. He holds an M.A. in English from Indiana University. John’s poems have been published in Chiron Review, December Magazine, North Dakota Review, Ethel Zine, Louisiana Literature, South Florida Poetry Journal, Jelly Bucket, Painted Bride Quarterly, Tipton Poetry Journal, Sheila-Na-Gig, Hole in The Head Review, Nimrod International Journal, The Indianapolis Review, and The Emerson Review, among many others.