Mischievous copper wish
formed with a whisper, tossed silently down the well
mistakenly believing it had been freed
I couldn’t risk it, waited up all night
and dug underground pits until my shovel
unearthed that long, lonely cavern
I climbed inside, followed the sounds
of steams until my body was submerged
inside the silent black water
and waited. It only took a day or so
for that coin to innocently float by, I snatched it up
with my jaw, sucked the wish off
like tender meat on a rib and indented my own wish
using razor-sharp incisors. I spit the coin back
into the water, crawled out of the quiet river
and sat in the darkness, satisfied,
reflecting on all of the things I do
to make sure your wishes
will never, never come true
Dante Novario is a writer from Louisville, KY. A pushcart and rhysling award nominee, his poetry has previously appeared or is upcoming in The Pinch Literary Journal, Nimrod International Journal, Thin Air Magazine, Ghost City, and others. His poetry can be heard on the literary podcast Strange Horizons and was featured in a recent edition of Burningword Literary Journal. He hosts a recurring spooky poetry night through Butcher Cabin Books, a horror-themed bookstore. Find more poetry on his writer’s Instagram @dante_novario.
photo by Gary Meulemans (via unsplash)
Crow & Cross Keys 