HOOT ONLINE, ISSUE 96, AUGUST – MICRO FICTION, POETRY, MEMOIR, BOOK REVIEWS
Or
after Bewitched
by Michele Pizarro Harman
Mother, yours is a halved plan. It’s what arrives when the unfathomableness of alive is gone. Come fly with me. Paris in the spring’s a blink away. Here now is the waiter carrying a cheese soufflé, here the French children playing. And here, a fashion show, though what’s missing lies beyond those rose and satin curtains, silver-blue sequins and beads, mythically-green wraps with soft fringes and even beyond the glimpse of a Givenchy, classic in black. As an eagle snatched from the sky, a witch in her prime, there is, you say, something in this I need: beauty from chaos, something from nothing, a simple and systematic unneeding of the world. We were fine up to nothing, but once there, gather facts: your or is not mine in our fully-tethered cores to the stars.
by Rachel Dillon
photography by author
We chased fireworks like a living metaphor,
careening through streets stiff-legged
in our snow pants. We swished into darkness,
towards jarring bursts of light. This is not
a love poem, but illuminated booms crackling
against the cold press of air. It is the sound
of distant light shattering, then soaring again.
This is not a love poem—I just want to explain
how strange it was to be with you & fireworks
in Reykjavik, where night lasts past noon
& where we rode buses for hours,
watching mountains, watching rain.
If I Could Only
by Jeffrey G. Moss
art by @vitruviantruth
If I could only compose
myself long enough
to strum
this simple song
you will
hear my promise
in the space
between the notes
and open
chorchords.
–
With English and Creative Writing degrees from UCLA & UF, Michele Pizarro Harman has published poems in Quarterly West, The Antioch Review, and Tinderbox Poetry, among others. She teaches high school English at her alma mater.
Rachel M. Dillon is a Boston-born poet, teacher, and book reviewer in NYC. Her work has appeared in Publishers Weekly, APIARY Magazine, the Binghamton Poetry Project Anthology, and elsewhere. Learn more: rachelmdillon.com.
Jeffrey G. Moss spent 32 years guiding 13/14 year olds in crafting their worlds. He is following some of his own advice, publishing in Bending Genres, Minnow Literary Magazine, and others. He and Vitruviantruth are quite tight.
