Poetry
A Scene
John T. Leonard
issue two.
Our breakfast table: brass knuckles, steel cut oatmeal,
synthetic sugar fingered into a Star of David. Check please!
“That joke never gets old,” is what she says because the joke has
grown old, and the market is low on fresh produce. Our humor,
like a bruised tomato. Our courage, like flecks of onion peel
swept into the corner. How I sprinkled flour in your hair last
but we are stuck inside and that is not our dog anymore.
July and said it was snowing. Unimaginable now—the waste
of the past and the thought of making it to winter. Outside,
there is a Cocker Spaniel dead in the street, mostly bone and fur,
touched only by the mouths of flies and feral cats. And the wind,
which waves a clinging tuft of white at us like some sardonic surrender.
Every day, you say we should venture out and bury her,
but we are stuck inside and that is not our dog anymore.
About the Author
John T. Leonard is an award-winning writer, educator, and managing editor of 42 Miles Press and The Glacier. He holds an M.A. in English from Indiana University. John’s poems have been published in Chiron Review, December Magazine, North Dakota Review, Ethel Zine, Louisiana Literature, Jelly Bucket, Painted Bride Quarterly, Tipton Poetry Journal, Qu Literary Magazine, Hole in The Head Review, Nimrod International Journal, The Indianapolis Review, Two Hawks Quarterly, and The Emerson Review, and many others. John was the 2016 inaugural recipient of the Wolfson Poetry Award, the 2018 recipient of the Josephine K. Piercy Memorial Award, and the 2019 recipient of the David E. Albright Memorial Award and Hatfield Merit Award. He lives in Elkhart, Indiana with his wife, son, cat, and dog. You can connect with him on Instagram @jotyleon, @theglacierjournal, and @42milespress.
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