JP Vallières

JP Vallières is the author of The Ketchup Factory.

TWO MICROS by JP Vallières

T BALL

There’s a tee ball league for grownups. You have to be thirty-five to participate. Thirty-five is the cutoff. If you’re younger you’re not old enough. Joe hit a homer his first time at bat. We cheered and gave him back and butt slaps while he rounded the bases. We hoped to do the same. There was real glory to be had. Trisha hit a double, which is pretty respectable. Donny bunted, we think it was a joke, but Donny seemed ill-humored. Perhaps it was strategy? In the bottom of the seventh, the last inning, I came up to bat. Joe (who was going for the cycle) suffered a pulled hammy, he couldn’t risk further straining a muscle he hadn’t used in decades. I wasn’t supposed to play. I had just joined the team. They didn’t seem to want me at first but I had an in with the coach. He’s my stepdad, Greg. Greg always let me do stuff with him. All I had to do was beg. Before I got up he slapped my back, spit tobacco on my shoe, and told me if I didn’t win this one for the team I’d be a total failure, like Mom.  

FLOOD II

There are species that didn’t make the ark. Some were not chosen. Others simply chose not to board. A gator with monkey fists. A cat, but there were already too many cats. Opossum like reptile with gills. There were chickens that could move boulders by clucking. Plenty of orphaned dog breeds. A monster that sang sweet songs of remorse. Something called a Liptirloot, which cannot be compared to anyone or anything. Unicorns never made it. Neither did the winged liger. But none died. They’re on the bottom of the ocean, biding their time. In the underark. Huddling behind a gate caked in salt.

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dear the eartH by JP Vallières

dear    the eartH

sendar saying maybe the earth help sendaR   sendar in quest of the earth habitatioN sendar from nodaN   nodians now gone inexplicably removed from galaxY

 

dear   the eartH

maybe help sendaR   sendar last one current in nodaN   big day of reckoninG only sendar livinG

  

dear   the eartH

sendar an artisT   before big day of reckoning fatherman saying sendar not be artisT

  

dear   the eartH

when existing fatherman saying sendar achieve license for galaxy rideR   sendar saying galaxy rider does not fit into artist incarnatioN

  

dear   the eartH

sendar now shameful not knowing how to fly galaxy rideR   could come in handy in pursuit of the earth habitatioN fatherman maybe precisE   sendar trying not to think about fathermaN fatherman departeD sendar truthfully wearisomE

  

dear   the eartH

artist forbids practicalitieS   comrade once saying sendar get no femalian without galaxy rideR   sendar write stunning poem of nodan for many femalians but poems transporting no appreciatioN   

  

dear   the eartH

femalians affectioning those with galaxy rider licensE   sendar stuck on regreT sendar trying to forget nodianS  maybe the earth help sendaR maybe the earth fly galaxy rider to nodan for pickuP   maybe the earth teach sendar the ways of meN

  

dear   the eartH

sendar wait long-sufferingly for the earth solutioN   

  

dear   the eartH

sendar noticing distances in galaxY   meaning sendar dreading lonesome infinitieS   meaning agony magnifies in light of daY

  

dear   the eartH

does the earth-artist bring femalian delighT   does the earth femalian agree to artist like-abilitieS   

  

dear   the eartH

when existing fatherman looking northway pointing to the eartH   blue light meaning the eartH fatherman saying it is where men abidE   

  

dear   the eartH

when existing fatherman saying achieve galaxy rider licensE   fatherman saying license engages practicalitieS sendar saying fatherman neglecting comprehension of artisT   sendar so youthful and rageful with fathermaN sendar then going off finding hole in rocK

  

dear  the eartH

in time sendar crawling out of hole in rocK   sendar finding nodan empty of habitatioN sendar waiting good-naturedly for emerging nodianS   waiting for merriment of big jest on sendaR no jibe no jest on sendaR sendar finding only silence under starS    

  

dear  the eartH

now sendar seeking the earth assistancE   now sendar waiting hopeful for successful deliverancE

  

dear  the eartH

sendar expecting increase in communicationS   eons pass sendaR maybe men of the earth grasping all sendar sayinG   maybe men of the earth reflecting on ways of nodaN

  

dear  the eartH

maybe men of the earth will save sendaR   maybe men of the earth will relate communications back to sendaR   

  

dear  the eartH

if only femalian in hole with sendar on big day of reckoninG   sendar thinking femalian would then transport appreciation of poeM   femalian with no other possibilities bringing affections to sendaR femalian would then have no objection to sendar artistrY   

  

dear the   eartH

if only licensed femalian in hole with sendar on big day of reckoninG   sendar thinking licensed femalian gliding sendar and poem to the earth like shooting staR

  

dear  the eartH

sendar giving in to ways of the losT   femalians no morE fatherman no morE galaxy rider possibilities no morE   sendar fading in to the sands of nodaN meaning sendar facing finalitieS

  

dear  the eartH

sendar keen-sighteD   sendar observing the earth blue light diminishinG

  

dear  the eartH  

sendar sending one last star corE   one final communicatioN does the earth retain inhabitantS   does the earth remain existinG

  

dear  the sands of nodaN  

nodan longstanding and graY   no more blue in the galaxY darkness occupying immensitieS   under three moons sendar dreaming of femalianS sendar remembering femaliaN   her body curving identical to ray of lighT

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