Cat Dixon

Back to Gargoyle Online

Can you do this one thing for me?

Can you do this one thing for me? Born with
unlucky numbers, filled with false legends—
the costume jewelry staining my neck and fingers—
I’m at the pawnshop five minutes before close—
exhausted all options. Don’t insult me with five bucks.

Currents keep washing me back to this same backwater.
Under the surface, I’m shaking in this river of foam.
The invisible treadmill carries me far from shore and
I never learned how to swim or back float or how to
engage with customers or breaking waves. Please

can you do this one thing for me? Something’s
under the water, but don’t assume I’ll ask for help or
panic. On the counter, I’ve left everything I own—
cloudy gemstones call for desperate measures,
and you said you’re open to trades and deals. After the
kerfuffle, after security’s called in, after my final
exit, milky cubic zirconia stones sprout in the trashcan.

How much is one ride on the carousel?

As the years spin by,
each horse resigned
to its nauseating fate,
the oven door flings
open. The mouth
of fire crackles
and spits. Flames lick
the salt block and singe
the ends of our hair.
Nothing will stop
the rotating horses—
heaving around the scythe
—as they accelerate.
Our long faces blur
in the mirrors. Our skin’s
pink and tender from the heat.

Stagnation

The number you’re trying to reach has been disconnected. Don’t
redial; instead, try different combinations—the order of the numbers
isn’t the issue. What’s a phone but a lackluster portal? The screech and
buzz of the dial tone doesn’t comfort. You’re also a constant here.

Cat Dixon is the author of What Happens in Nebraska (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2022) along with six other poetry chapbooks and collections. She is a poetry editor with The Good Life Review. Recent poems published in The Book of Matches, North of Oxford, hex, and The Southern Quill.

Back to Gargoyle Online