Eva Schlesinger is the author of the chapbook, Remembering the Walker and Wheelchair: poems of grief and healing (Finishing Line Press, 2008). Her poetry has also received the Literal Latte Food Verse Award and been published in Cricket Magazine. She lives in a banilla vanilla villa in Berkeley, California, where she reads voraciously, plays magical flute melodies, draws wildly colorful, whimsical animals, and writes.

Slipping Sideways

I have fallen into a slump
into the dump
into the damp
with a cramp
a lamp
tea and crumpets
I am without Marge and her entourage
on a barge in the garage
on the marriage carriage parade
behind the barracuda barricade
I hear trumpets
triangle entanglements
as the establishment embellishes radishes
and roses under our noses
as they take a nose dive
or high five fervor
as they drink tea of licorice
in handkerchief mischief
with a chef bereft at his bequest
with a quest to digest destiny