SIDERIUS SHORT POETRY
COMPETITION, 2024
it’s a used bicycle not an old car
that would have trade-in value,
we’ll get you a brand-new Schwinn,
no matter the cost.
Maybe
you can sell the old bone-shaker for $100 tops,
look around in your circle or figure out Plan B.
My circle:
depressos, food thieves, social workers,
middle-aged L’s perpetually between jobs,
abandoned women with three gym memberships,
binge-drinking PTSD veterans,
“actors” and “writers.”
Plan B then,
whatever that is.