30 October 2007 | Vol. 7, No. 3
Aunt Sophie Had a Stroke When I Was Eight
Though her eyes had kept like marbles,
her tongue was a broken See 'n Say:
people and places but never a story;
her voice a game of Memory.
She was one of those plastic eggs
that tumble from gumball machines,
her mind a kind of candy that quarters can unwind:
so much chalk to so much sugar;
a taste familiar too soon.
About the author:
Steven Breyak really likes being a poet but would also like to be a short story writer. Another thing he would really like is to have a great job at some university you've all heard of to talk about in this sentence, other than his great job with Emerson College's Young Writers this summer (2008). Around here, he'd like to mention a fellowship he received that would make all of you say, "Oh, that's why he's famous," despite his lack of fellowship and fame. You can read more of his recent work in Thieves Jargon, Night Train, Softblow, Tattoo Highway, Sawbuck, and Word Riot… Really.
For further reading:
Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 7, No. 3, where "Aunt Sophie Had a Stroke When I Was Eight" ran on October 30, 2007. List other work with these same labels: poetry.
