By: Ricky Garni

FINAL CAPSULE

I like chocolate and I like obituaries.
Some people like dromedaries and machine guns.
There’s a ride at Disney World called
“It’s A Small World After All.” And within it,
an even smaller world. The

Circumference of the earth is 24,901 miles.

The earth contains 7.594 billion people.

As we speak, another is born,
and another falls down on a tree stump
and says: “Yow! That smarts!”

and wait – that’s not all: our lives

are only lived in
a mall and not a
drop more –
after all,
all of it –

it’s really
really

small.
MOTHER

It was a peculiar man who decided that the world
needed the invention of the bed rather than the
heretofore traditionally accepted resting spots
for sleep: the branches of a large tree,
the top of a limestone cave, deep in the middle
of the ocean, and suspended beyond harm’s way
over a roaring winter fire.

###

MIRROR HALL

HALL OF MIRRORS
Makes me long for a world
that is less complicated and
more light-soaked.

HALL OF MIRRORS
You might say you don’t
want to live in one, and
yet you brought your
camera.

HALL OF MIRRORS
Used to cost 25¢ to enter.
Now they don’t exist
They are dead.

HALL OF MIRRORS
The vain boy loves them
too much to invite
the vain girl to enter,
and so she buys her own:
she is vain, and rich.

HALL OF MIRRORS
Orson Welles once said:
‘I’ll take it from here’
and then requested a
second pineapple juice.

HALL OF MIRRORS
The best way to not know
yourself and yet think you
do is to live in one.
One hall of mirrors.

HALL OF MIRRORS
Once a little chihuahua
wandered into one and
fell asleep.

HALL OF MIRRORS
Once a mirror wandered
into one and fell in love.

HALL OF MIRRORS
is a refreshing pick-me-up
after a jaunt to the House
of Sounds and The House
of Smells and the House
of God.

HALL OF MIRRORS
No, there is no Hall
of Touches.

HALL OF MIRRORS
When you finally leave,
you miss Thelma.

###

KISS

Gene Simmons says he was not dating Cher
when he started dating Diana Ross. Diana
Ross says that he was dating Cher when
she and Gene Simmons began dating.
Cher suggested that Gene Simmons ask
Diana Ross to help him choose a Christmas
present for her. Gene Simmons categorically
denies that this happened, and is willing to
say so under oath and/or undergo a
polygraph test. Diana Ross is, or was,
now married to Norwegian shipping magnate
Arne Naess, Jr., although Arne Naess, Jr.,
contends that married – they are not.

Who are we to believe?

Gene Simmons is worth 400 million dollars.
Diana Ross is worth 250 million dollars.
Arne Naesse, Jr., is worth 5.5 billion krone.

Diana Ross lives in Connecticut.

Arne Naess, Jr., climbed mountains,
lived in different places, ate heartily,
died.

Gene Simmons snores.

I believe Cher.

###

THE BOOK OF WISDOM

If you ignore the bathtub long enough
you will smell like Magella

###

Ricky Garni lives in suburban North Carolina and works as a photographer and writer. His work has been published most recently in the Blake Jones Review, Tilted House, and Can We Have Our Ball Back? A GLORIOUS GALLOP V. AN ADAGIO OF INDIFFERENCE – his latest, lengthy collection – was released in December, 2020.