No+Wasted+Words+p+3

Shrinking Sky Lou Orbach

 In the parking lot at St. Anthony’s  on a summer night  when the lights of the creaking  ferris wheel were pale  in the purple dusk of a sky as wide  as it was ever going to be,  I threw a ping pong ball  into a pickle jar  and won a goldfish.  Lately, I’ve noticed  the sky,  how it’s shrinking….

BULLFROGS by David Allan Evans

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> sipping a Schlitz <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> we cut off the legs <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> packed them in ice, then <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> shucked the rest back into <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> the pond for turtles <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> ready to go home <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> we looked down and saw <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> what we had thrown back in: <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> quiet-bulging eyes nudging along <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> the moss’s edge, looking up at us, <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> asking for their legs

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;">INDIGLO <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;">by a former BG Student. We'll call him "Ed".

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> we are sitting <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> watching voices wearing <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> tight black pants and cut up black shirts. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> We hold hands in the dark. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> Neon green lights, <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> where hands run in circles, <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> spotlighting the moon dipping on her face. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> Her dimple surfaces <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> from her soft skin when I ask, <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> “What color is a burp?” <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> “Burple.” <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; margin-top: 5.28pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.38in; unicode-bidi: embed;"> Her dimple smiles back at me.