THIS IS NOT AN EPISTROPHE BUT AN EPISTROPHE WITHOUT AN "E"

 

prelude:
even though i’m not a blonde, i read the sixteen
problems only blondes understand, agreeing with
every word like it relates to me on a spiritual level.
sometimes, we bite more than we want to drink. not
because we can, but simply because it’s on the house.
and the house says, drink, drink and die, maru-der. 
that is when i realise that i am a ghost who likes
sneakers, and white truffle cake with a dash of velvet
sugar.  i call it sunday machine dance on hilltop. 

interlude:

the other day i went to the neighbourhood gas sta-
-tion, and told the man in orange, i want to burn this. 
he thought i was joking until the comedy burned him. 
shots were fired. wait. wait. what?
i go back to reading verses in a language i don’t
understand, making lampposts out of certain pages. 
the cat at my feet learns to meow in a way a dog
learns to bark in five seconds, where 8.5 trillion
chemical reactions occur in my cells. in a minute, 
my heart will have pumped more than a gallon of
blood. and if all the world is a stage, there is
nothing else that matters. and who cares if the
story doesn’t end as long as everyone gets what
they want? right? right. 

Tanya Singh is the Founder & Editor-in-Chief of The Cerurove. Their work has appeared, or is forthcoming in Literary Orphans, The Slag Review, The Rising Phoenix Review, 82 Star Review, among others. They live in India.