under perfect voice control
sit stay heel
my dog so desperately wants to please
nestles in my lap when the Warriors lose
fetches countless tennis balls plopping
them at my feet, tongue lolling,
looking up with limpid eyes
and I swear a smile
why is no one else like him
especially my daughter with tats and studs
waltzing out the door wearing
a see-through top over a two inch skirt
my son eating a fifth Oreo
staring straight at me
my husband sprawled on the couch
watching bowling baseball badminton
while crab grass grows another foot
& rats scuttle in the basement
come Max come!
CLaire Scott is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Enizagam, New Ohio Review and Healing Muse, among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.
ISSUE TWENTY: RS: Steamy, y'all
Vanessa Maki
dance with ghosts
David Joez Villaverde
The Things We Did Right
Linda Wojtowick
Reset
Private Account
Claire Scott
Voice Control
Courtney LeBlanc
Mood
R.A. Allen
Buried Alive