2005 Illinois Emerging Writers Competition
Rosanna Lloyd, Chicago, IL
Pray for a Chocolate Wind
as I sit on the back porch
the tannery spreads its
sickly sweet odor along the river
and into my neighborhood
it smells like baby powder and burning skin
if you don't breathe too deep
you can only smell the baby powder but
if you breathe like that for too long
you'll pass out for sure
my only hope for peace
is a southeasterly wind
coming from the chocolate factory
The Slow Death of the Ice Cream Man
I can hear the ice cream van
far away, getting closer
the twinkling clown song
distorted by a
heavy July wind, tunneling
through the thick air into my
screened window
I always picture it in
a swarm of children
but when it rolls by my house
it's always alone
the song is sharp and painful
and the man behind the
chicken-wired windows looks like he
hates ice cream
Child of the Future
the air is heavy with particles of industry
the street bristles with mechanical flora
the ground is coated with
brazenly colored food packaging material
I haven't set foot off pavement for days
my bike wheels churn the debris beneath me and
a sudden wind pushes my hair to the side with the heavy perfume
of the chocolate factory
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllI
turn my face into the wind
llllllllllllllllllI breathe deep
some people call it ugly
I call it progress
I want a fast train lllllllI want to call
people while I'm on it
I want to buy shrunken heads on ebay
I want to see five movies at the same multiplex
I want to play dance dance revolution in between them
I want the internet in my head llllllllllla
hard drive in my temporal lobe
I want a hormone cocktail in my milk
I want to donate my eggs to science lllllllllfor
money
I want a goddamn flying car
I just want to ride this wave of invention until it crashes
if it ever does
llllllllllllllllllcopper sunlight filters
through the dust and I turn
the corner at the light
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllon
the street
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllla dead
pigeon with its skull flattened
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll its
face stuck to the sidewalkllllll the eyes
gone
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllike
one of those feathery Halloween masks
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