The Ark
The smaller the animal, the easier the time. The two roaches, for example, had plenty of food. Their main concern was a sky full of hooves. The elephants, however, had to be chained in place to avoid the ark’s unbalancing, and on Day 14, Noah and his family ate one of the cavortigers, which is why they no longer exist. Each day ended in guilt or hunger, as they endured the funk of the lower decks rising. The rain continued, and the night animals had their say.
On Being Told I Write Too Much About the Moon
The sun shatters on the windy lake and everyone agrees it’s lovely. I can’t help it. The scene would be more moving if the moon hung there instead. I could spend all night watching those fragments fail to reassemble. O bright blister, O cigarette hole in negative, O ghostly dime, O albino quesadilla — we have never known exactly what you mean, but even the worst of us look up at you and pause.
Charles Rafferty has a new collection of prose poems out with BOA Editions – A Cluster of Noisy Planets. His latest story collection is Somebody Who Knows Somebody (Gold Wake). His novel, Moscodelphia, has just been published by Woodhall Press.
