on their respective pedestals to be
dunked by onlookers into dumb juice,
Each pondering the series of
events that led them here . . .
The first was pressured
by a vindictive competitor, who made it feel
foolish for its initial refusal to participate.
It shouldn’t have let its ego trigger trip.
Would a yellow label really have been so bad . . .
The second was a sucker. Fell
pray to its own empathetic nature. The pleas
of the most recent charitable cause. It should have
written a check . . .
The last was a volunteer. It had learned enough
to know that ignorance truly is bliss. It seized
the opportunity. Respectfully thanking its mama
for not raising a fool.
A.J. Huffman has published seven solo chapbooks and one joint chapbook through various small presses. Her eighth solo chapbook, Drippings from a Painted Mind, won the 2013 Two Wolves Chapbook Contest. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her poetry, fiction, and haiku have appeared in hundreds of national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, Bone Orchard, EgoPHobia, Kritya; and Offerta Speciale, in which her work appeared in both English and Italian translation. She is also the founding editor of Kind of a Hurricane Press.
