Two can live as cheaply as one for half as long

Acrylic on paper, 16" x 20" 

artwork

A retired educator, Dave Sims makes art and music in the old mountains of central Pennsylvania. See more at www.tincansims.com

The ABC’s of Extremities:

Hypochondriacs Should Not Read

Billie Stratton

abducted, arthritic 
awkward, brittle, broken 
bunions, chapped, chilly 
clumsy, cold, compressed 
congested, constricted 
convulsing, cracked, cramped 
crippled, cured 
discolored, dislocated 
displaced, distorted, dry 
emaciated, enlarged 
erupted, extended, flexed 
fluttering 
	   floating 
fornicated, 	  fractured 
freezing, fuzzy 
gurgling, hairy, hard 
hot, heavy, inflamed 
injured, insensible 
irritated, itching 
jerking, knocked, karma 

limping, loose, lump 
milkleg, missing 
numbness, oozing, pain 
paralysis, perspiration, pricking 
pulsation, raised, relaxed 
restless, sensitive, shaking 
shocked, shriveled, shuddering 
sinking, stiff, swollen 
tender, tense, tight, 
tingling, trembling, twitching 
tumors, ulcers, veins
warts, wasting, weakness 
withered wooden wrinkles.
		


the poet

Author's Bio

Billie Jean Stratton is a 74-year-old farm girl who never liked the barn. In the 80’s, she worked with John Montague at The New York State Writers Institute and met Joseph Brodsky when he first came to America. Among other notable publications, Billie’s poem “Brodsky” was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize and she’s ready to acknowledge her voice again.