The Contortionist
He winks his shoulders,
Shrugging his eyes
And flaps his brow
Till it almost flies,
Grins at the crowd
As he purses his hips,
But the grin inverts
When he twiddles his lips.
As if mistaking
His nostrils for toes,
He blows his feet
And walks on his nose.
His belly puts
On a comic leer,
His groin akimbo.
He nods an ear.
The finale comes quick
As he twists even moreso,
Then winds up his act
As he winds down his torso.
Though better known as a fiction writer, David Galef has published a boatload of poems in The Yale Review, Shenandoah, Witness, Measure, etc., and was once the featured poet in Light. His two poetry books are Flaws and Kanji Poems, his two poem chapbooks Lists and Apocalypses. He’s a professor of English and the creative writing program director at Montclair State U. He is also the editor of Vestal Review, the oldest flash fiction magazine on the planet.