Hapless

by Steve Petkus

Emboldened by the nipper of gin
that was his only supper
in the rental car between viewings,
the dead man’s son returns
twenty minutes late and trips
on the carpet, knocks a lamp
from the table nearest the casket.
“Damn it,” he spits, and a steely hush
falls on those gathered for the day’s
final session. In diminished light
the son grimaces, presses forth:
“What I mean,” he breathes,
“to’ve said—” but before he can finish,
the funeral director rights the lamp,
and full light returns to the space
where the focus is. The propped face
employs its waxen punctuation.

2579D86E

by Carolyn EJ Watson

---

Steve Petkus has work forthcoming in Artful Dodge and I-70 Review. Other poems of his have appeared in Puerto del Sol, Naugatuck River Review, Tar River Poetry, Cider Press Review, and elsewhere. Steve is a school librarian living in the Hudson Valley. He holds an MFA from the University of Michigan.

Carolyn EJ Watson is an interdisciplinary artist who is drawn to the useless and unusual. She takes what she can find to tell a story using a mixture of unconventional materials. Through her art, Watson strives to advocate and educate, particularly focusing on concepts such as identity, trauma, abstraction, chaos, and conservation.