From: Spring + Summer 2023
What Kind of Dangerous or Exhilarating Activity Are You Thinking About?
—question asked by Savannah Dudley
I've put aside kitchen knies.
Ski mask didn't survive.
I've capped the rattling bottle,
corked the jug, kept
filthy cigarettes in place
in a pocket on my chest.
I haven't clocked a kid in the head
with my aluminum lunch box
in almost forty years.
I lead a sedentary life as if awaiting
a push toward misadventure.
I love the word 'misadventure.'
It implies action. Also, goofs
that land a man in the stew,
stir, hospital, or morgue.
I'm afraid of more than death,
or less than, I should say.
Outside my door, the virus taunts
like a stranger flipping off convicts
through the window of a cell.
Ace Boggess