appealing

The Maynard
Fall 2019

David Morgan O’Connor
0:00
 
 

{declining dessert}

At Donovan’s roadhouse we sit discussing
how success is measured by money whether
right or wrong is a fact. I want to disagree
but the Yorkshire pudding is to die for.

My father says I don’t want to get into that right now.
Isn’t survival the only ruler? I keep to myself.
The carrot grease is proof of God. Stout foam.
Over the next three hours we’ll drive in circles.

They’ll no longer give me insurance, he says.
I imagine informing a soldier of imminent amputation.
Pre-dawn regret, cap in hand, a cop approaching a mother’s door.
I am sorry to inform you last night there was a—

—recalculation and nothing more to be done.