A boy from my high school English class asks me out on a date. He wants to see a Marvel superhero movie, the one about a humanoid duck pulled from his homeworld to Earth where he must stop an alien invasion. Not my first choice but, hey, it’s a chance to get out of the house on a hot summer day and this boy has a car.
We leave the theater chatting about the film. He really liked it. Of course, he would. He’s the class nerd with wide-set eyes peering out from behind thick prescription glasses resting atop the bridge of his broad-bill nose. The brightly colored shirt he wears accentuates his stout body and short neck.
The afternoon is young. Hoping for an invitation to grab an ice cream in an air-conditioned parlor, instead I am directed straight toward his car, a VW bug. He opens the passenger door. A gentleman, I say to myself.
The engine turns over and he heads toward the parkway along a stretch of wetlands. A mile or so in near the grassland habitat, he pulls over and puts the car in park. Preening his feathery mop of hair, he reaches for my hand. Tipping forward, he tumbles head first into my bucket seat.
shallow water—
body upended dabbling
for love
A resident of Alaska for over forty years, Bonnie J Scherer originally hails from Wisconsin. Once she discovered the joy of writing Japanese style poetry a few years ago, she was hooked. It has been her honor to have haiku, senryu, tanka, haibun, and more published in venues and platforms throughout the world.
