elizabethburnam

Parking in the city

I wouldn’t say I miss you. We met right on schedule, and parted not a moment…
Pause

Saturday-ing with Aaron Leftover tikka masala Sports bra, Hulu, sleep
To be loved by Betty Boop, Emily Dickinson, and the Grim Reaper

To be loved says Betty (who laughs at fire, smoke and gun) is to have no…
The inventor’s journal: several failed prototypes of the mermaid

1. Our first try was truly grotesque.More anglerfish than angel, she thrashed like a storm when…
Pickles

Mom says dad’s got pickles for brains. You can smell the dill and vinegar on his…
Retrograde

Like a germ, I can feel this citytrying to cough me out I just want to…
Hands-on learning

Mint, mulch, raspberry. Electric sting, the bee’s wings buzzing. Bare feet follow hot tar squiggles into…
The window

When I was young and I heard noises in the night, I was not afraid; I…
Surgeon & a sundial

ice pack behind my knee carries a pulse of coolant blood to the slug toe, scarreda…
Biscuits

Why do you harass yourselfwith that little dreamt apocalypse? It’s just raining, love. There are biscuits.…
Thrift shopping

The best thrift store in town is found through a revolving door at the base of…
Open mic night

HELP! (Yeah, that’s it, there’s A word worth shouting Into the crowd of strangersInto the shivering…
Self-portrait in solitude, late January #3

She is feverish, locked inside the house. It’s been frigid the past few days, temps in…
Curriculum for a woman

You’ll learn how to dance,how to mourn, how to Irish goodbye. You’ll learn why and why…
Boiling point

Discipline, discipline, discipline, the sun seems to scream—and then betrays herself, burning out behind a cloud.…
Birds of prayer

The owl sat—a silhouettein black upon the branchnearly hidden by the night but for a silver…
The Queen of Pentacles (Reversed)

They say it got all stopped up in her lungs like influenza, the streets of her…
The diner

It’s the one right off the highway, quick and easy to access for the folks just…
Anxiety on a flight to Chicago

The clouds engulf you and your vision goes white. Here, you are small and foreign and…
HSP

This life has stinging joys to give and dragging grief to follow it but what a…