Say

All this to say keep an eye out.
I’d say something
if I thought anything
were up. All this to say

there was this one time.
There were bison.
They tended to stand and eat.

All this to say no pets.
But plants, anyhow.
And the light bulbs
that grow them.

Grow lights. All this to say
the work of the sun
is no minor redundancy.

This trivet has a heart
and it’s on fire.
All this to say worst-case scenario,
flambé, to say hey

I thought I told you already.
Everyone goes to Hades.
If you knock on the ground

they might not hear you.
Say they do.

Lauren Mallett’s poems appear in RHINO, Smartish Pace, Sou’wester, Fugue, Passages North, and other journals. Read more at www.laurenmallett.com.