HOOT ONLINE, ISSUE 102, OCTOBER 2022 – MICRO FICTION, POETRY, MEMOIR, BOOK REVIEWS
Shapeshifter
by: Kelly Ann Jacobson
art by: Sonia Jacobson Lee
indent I am a smear of red paint on canvas.
indent I am a dragon, trapped.
indent “Beautiful,” people say of me, and of my frame, gold gilt with swords among the leaves.
The King with his weapon in my belly arches backward, while my fire explodes and explodes
and explodes.
indent Pain curls my claws, my hands; tears wet the museum floor like rain on a leaf.
indent I am an old woman with thick tortoise-shell spectacles. My tissue smells of dust and
mint.
indent “Beautiful,” people say.
indent My tail arches and waves.
Day of Rest
An erasure of Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
by: Frances Klein
photography by author
an explicit calculation
of wind, a potentially catastrophic event—
stop work immediately.
One indisputably positive development:
I am tired and have consumed five traincar loads
of nails. Tremendous progress has been made.
Where once there had been barren land,
hundreds of workers swarm, dressing me with flowers.
—
Kelly Ann Jacobson is the author of many published books, including An Inventory of Abandoned Things and Tink and Wendy. Kelly earned her PhD from Florida State University and now teaches fiction.
Frances Klein is a high school English teacher. She was born and raised in Southeast Alaska, and taught in Bolivia and California before settling in Indianapolis. Readers can find more of her work at https://kleinpoetryblog.wordpress.com/.
