“Thinking About a Flamingo” © Ellen Greenblum-Siddons

 

My Plan

The man with the lampshade
on his head didn’t think I was
very funny. I tried to explain,
using the sign language
of the sparrows, but he only
understood the dialect of
the black squirrel, and my
tail twitches were rusty. He
had given me a choice on how
I would like to die, and I’d,
of course, said cake. It was
either slowly and angrily
or slowly and angrily with
a foot cramp. I couldn’t
find my ankles to stand
or I would’ve made a speech
about running away. I think
someone stole them or borrowed
them and forgot to bring
them back. What I wanted
to do was learn the word
for stream, the way the water
glinted in the sun as it passed
out of my life to be
enveloped in the equilibrium
of swimming and falling forever
but never landing, but my bass
was worse than my black
squirrel. Back home, I’m sure
they’re praying for me to fail.
The joke’s on them; that
was my plan all along.

 

Raised on a rice and catfish farm in eastern Arkansas, CL Bledsoe is the author of more than thirty books. He is a neurodivergent poet who likes to eat Twinkies in bed while reading comic books. Bledsoe lives in northern Virginia with his enby teen.

Ellen Greenblum- Siddons is a mixed media painter who works primarily on paper and also wood panels. Additionally she indulges in whimsical crafts utilizing plastics and resin. Ellen is Faculty Emeritus at Prescott College where she taught in the Humanities and Fine Arts for almost thirty years. Her teaching focused on socially engaged art practices, collage, therapeutic arts and human development. She also dabbles in creative essay and poetry writing. Ellen is a dog lover and has three large companions who hike with her daily in the forests of the high desert landscapes of Arizona.