Poem: Alaska — Multiple Choice

Alaska - Multiple Choice

what is the beloved food of memory-dwellers?

a. Mother fishes an iridescent body from the bowl

b. bloated water-dweller floats obtusely, impossible to miss

c.  Little Girl cries and cries little-girl tears and this is good for knowing

how many rivers are there?

a. twelve thousand

b. it’s honestly, irrelevant

c.  just the one

does she have the right to mourn a man she doesn’t know?

a. Little Girl must not cry when looking for a sky-dweller in the river

b. as she risks drowning the salmon, whose bodies are needed

c.  to soak in the chilly tundral silence

d. both a(bsent) and c(oalescent)

how many aircraft accidents are there, annually?

a. one hundred

b. only one that matters

c.  one too many to bear

how many bodies have been lost?

a. three 

b. three

c.  or three

can you suffer that which isn’t yours?

a. Mother wades in the river but cannot drown

b. little cradle floats in the tears, emptied of its burden

c.  perhaps you can distill the suffering

d. none of the above