Talking Through the Animals

I do the voices, and over time they
begin to seem more real. The dog says that
my ex smelled like the vet. A real buffet
of stupid. A helpful squirrel gnawing at
some nut confers with me about my job.
Forget about that garbage. Quit without
delay. The cat will not forgive the swab
of medicine into her ear. She shouts,

Prepare yourself for urine in your shoes.
The chatter is so constant, I forget
there are no voices but my own. I choose
this phylum of forgetting to beget
an order for my loneliness. No shame,
to give a kingdom speech, as well as name.


- Megan Kerns (from Hawaii Pacific Review)

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