Member-only story

Test Taker

The audience has arrived

Dec 2, 2022

You will take a quivering hand,
rake a membrane of scented blood,

remove a strip & latch the trap
of a goal line fortune teller.

You are no expert, but you’re standing
on stage, just left of the ghost light.

The audience has arrived
to separate the staff from stars.

Some are gentle, some are fierce.
Some are nonfiction readers,

others booklet-burning negotiators.
It is in our nature to help

the frail person who might succeed,
to be the person that opens a task

and leaves it to the withered trees —
tiny roots that suck the skin of truth.