This week’s selection.

5417.
you discreetly correct my math
you always focus on my non-embarrassing moments
I could not ask for a better sister.

5418.
an inhibiting vocabulary
stymies the household’s creativity
AKA Mom says No

5419.
As the cable car fell to the valley floor
all I could think was
what was the name of that pastry she was so good at making?

5420.
oh my goodness you talk so tight red
your raspy laugh lands so heavy bright
I light mild then flicker white
My heart flings itself out of sight
 
5421.
in another twenty years at her neighbor’s wedding
she will sneeze
causing the happy couple’s eventual divorce
but today, she’s just a second-grader with a runny nose

5422.
The first room to the left
The perfect doughnut on a plate
Your office, 8 AM, Tuesday.

5423.
handwritten notes
in a yellow notebook –
I feel queasy at the sight.

5424.
knocked at the kitchen door thought you might
like some company didn’t realize you’d just be
finishing up the murder of your brother-in-law
Sorry. I’ll stop by tomorrow.

5425.
plotted on that graph is it six or seven or
Eight wait wait wait or
Nine oh no no nooooo
 
5426.
the purple liquid
spattering our umbrellas
Item 317, I thought,
in the run-up to the apocalypse

5427.
heard on the bus:
they never got along
and he’s running out of time
to make things even worse

5428.
the last three nights
the designer of my nightmares
must have been off work. I’ve slept like a baby.

5429.
Age 40, wearing a heavy coat and thick gloves
Nevertheless he felt his blood congeal
at the mere sight of his dentist walking down the street

5430.
I need more time to decorate the cake
I need more time to peel this orange
I need more time to play the guitar
I need more time
 
5431.
Sometimes I thought she was
just a collection of
carefully machined metal parts

5432.
The big clock ticks
a cool voice in the silent room:
choose one forget the others

5433.
above the chalkboard
the clock has stopped
but the professor drones on and on

5434.
green-faced and
drained of energy
he knew it was time to admit to his mistake

5435.
of course there’s something to these rumors
so loose so flimsy so outrageous crazy and
so many times shared and shared and shared

 
5436.
the stuttering radar sweep
across the dusty plains
the ghosts evade it but make no mistake –
they are there

5437.
The snail moves slowly
and follows a wavering line.
Truth is elusive.