Art by Amy Alexander
“I don’t wish to alarm you,” said Mr. Wonka, “but it does sometimes
happen that only about half the little pieces find their way into the television set.
I don’t know why, but the result was that only half a bar of chocolate came through.”
Roald Dahl, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
TV makes him very small. Projects
a wee homicidal doll who paces
in his mother’s palm while Wonka expects
her to stay calm. She has a perfect place
at home for him, three stories staged, plastic
Army men. Wonka could reduce a few
TVs, eighteen pistols, belt, would be fantastic
without need for alarm. What he would do
is just a little harm. With his bitty
bullets, a meager massacre of
men mass manufactured and plentifully
in stock. Diminutive decapitated doves
a shock, toy nest she makes for his window —
but it is tragedy that cannot grow.
Kristin Garth is a Pushcart, Best of the Net & Rhysling nominated sonnet stalker. Her sonnets have stalked journals like Glass, Yes, Five:2:One, Luna Luna and more. She is the author of sixteen books of poetry including Pink Plastic House (Maverick Duck Press), Crow Carriage (The Hedgehog Poetry Press), Flutter: Southern Gothic Fever Dream (TwistiT Press), The Meadow (APEP Publications) and Golden Ticket forthcoming from Roaring Junior Press. She is the founder of Pink Plastic House a tiny journal and co-founder of Performance Anxiety, an online poetry reading series. Follow her on Twitter: (@lolaandjolie) and her website kristingarth.com