FORTUNE COOKIE


Seeing the words: 
"Take off your face 
and drive" 

tattooed deep
into my fortune cookie

I sped over mountains
and black rivers

When I was lost,
wolves in bright
shirt sleeves
gave me directions

Eventually the road
came to a close

A dark figure 
rose up before me
like some shabby version 

of my father
made entirely
of hooves and antlers

I bent forward
to bury my face
deep in his beard

all those splendid hairs 
lit up beneath
the twin moons of my 
oncoming headlights



NEAR YELLOW


I look at my hands 
and remember how 
I entered the world
with a pure animal 
instinct to kill
innocent flowers

I nod to the yellow light
pressing its pointed face
to my slick cube of glass

I desperately 
need to know 

why these giant bumble bees 

hate me
and my window


A TRILOGY


I crossed three mountains
and three rivers

and after each one

all the tears
I left behind
changed color


Bob Schofield is the author/illustrator of The Inevitable June. He likes what words and pictures do.