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| Steve Sack, Cagle Cartoons, The Minneapolis Star Tribune |
Silver-brittle sky-house snaps
handcuffs on its prisoners
the urgency of fear
startles some lizards
who walk on water bodies upright
escaping locomotion no tracks
the fuchsia impatiens
spills her blossoms onto brick
the sky is falling cries Henny-penny
I must warn the people
a duck rides a decoy like a horse
veering nowhere on its back
a boy fastens a target to a tree
alien green parrots scream
the needle sinks into the flesh
the arrow flies into the black
hungry pythons swallow deer
a dog named Forrest drowns
a child draws her lost cat
pointed ears small paws rounded eyes
she tapes it to a tree until its face
fades from it penciled tail
in a coat of oil a bird grows cold
its blackened wing remains
Henny-penny trips and falls
foxes make a meal of her
leave her carcass
on their party's trail
Lucille Gang Shulklapper has published short stories as well as four
chapbooks of poetry, most recently, In the Tunnel, (March Street Press,
2008). She has won awards and
competitions from National League of Pen Women: Nob Hill Branch, Palm Beach
Repertory Theater, the R. Rofihe Poetry Trophy, and others. Her work has been anthologized and
appears in many publications, including: Jerry Jazz Musician; Poetic Voices Without Borders,
Gulfstream and The Prose Poem Project. She has led workshops
for The Florida Center for the Book, and workshops facilitated
through The Palm Beach Poetry Festival. Her first picture book, Stuck
in Bed, Fred, has been accepted for publication in
2013.