photo: Ed




















THE DOWN SIDE
by Howie Good

It rained all day and all night and all the next day. You
know why – the fire king’s daughter. She was lolling naked
on the red divan, remembering the obscure objects in her
parents’ medicine cabinet. Have you ever seen the lining
of a potato bug’s wings? Very like the opening of the
season for executions. People were afraid to fall asleep.
They discussed in hoarse whispers the enigma of the blue
guitar. I wasn’t there. I hadn’t been born yet. But a tiny
bird hopped about the branch, like your hand waving
goodbye at the end of someone else’s arm.





Howie Good is the author of a full-length poetry collection, Lovesick, and twenty-one print and digital poetry chapbooks including Hello, Darkness, currently available from Deadly Chaps.