En Toi Je Te Regarde

artwork
Dr. Ernest Williamson III has published creative work in over 600 journals. Williamson has published poetry in over 200 journals, including The Oklahoma Review, Poetry Life and Times, The Roanoke Review, Pamplemousse,formerly known asThe Gihon River Review, The Copperfield Review, Pinyon Review, I-70 Review,andWilderness House Literary Review.His artwork has appeared in hundreds of journals includingNew England Review, Kestrel,andColumbia Review. Ernest has an M.A. from the University of Memphis and a Ph.D. from Seton Hall University. Williamson has taught composition and literature courses at numerous institutions including Fairleigh Dickinson University, Nyack College, Essex County College, and Allen University. He lives in Tennessee.

Eighth Grade Spelling Bee

by Matt Thompson

Watch your plosives. 
The middle school microphone has no screen
or stand for that matter, 
to soften your slip-ups. 

9 am Tuesday Parents
are perfectly willing to approach your podium,
held even on the gym floor’s waves by a fold of
duct d-u-c-t duct tape
to offer helpful guidance. 
So watch yourfiddlehorndoesn’t sound a mite likefettle
and oughn’tmischievoushave another e sound?

Consider it diacriticism. 
Shake the winner’s hand and shuffle your papers
in their metallic pony folder
found discarded in a desk. 

Stride confidently, arm in arm with Merriam, 
not in the direction of your dreams perhaps,
but there is coffee in the work room
and the machine works two out of three. 
For you, today, certainly it will.

Matt Thompson

Author's Bio:

Matt Thompson is a writer who lives in Atlanta, GA with his elderly beagle. His short fiction can be found in Aforementioned Productions, R.kv.r.y. Quarterly, and elsewhere. His poetry can be found right here.