The Last Supper before the Diet - Adrian Slonaker

I tap my patella and

scratch the embryo of a hole in the right knee of

faded grey jeans, the way I'd gingerly rip my skin off if

it guaranteed a glimmering slimmer figure, while

Bob Dylan warbles “How does it feeeeeeeeeeeeel?”

over a taxicab radio crackling as Main Street stalks the

chocolate dregs of the Petitcodiac River at low tide

before shape-shifting into Rue Champlain

en route to Deluxe Fries (and fish and clams and scallops and poutine),

where I'm baffled by the battlefield of

barricades and one-way entrances intended to trap any tiresome virus particles

that sneaked past the provincial peace officers.

If a sympathetic curmudgeon hadn't commiserated and assisted,

I'd have growled

past my purplish raindrop-patterned face mask aping the

foggy drizzle draped over Westmorland County.

BIOGRAPHY:

Fond of catchy rock 'n roll records, rain and cobblestone streets, language professional Adrian Slonaker (they/their/them) lives in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Adrian's work, which has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize, has appeared in WINK: Writers in the Know, Cajun Mutt Press, The Pangolin Review and others.