Give Me Some Sparkle, and I’ll Pay You What You Ask For
The cat puts his paw on my hair, and I think about
where we could go if we weren’t here. Maybe the
nail salon, which seems like a good destination for
kill time Saturdays. Except that the proprietor always
up charges me. He watches me walk in from the space
I found near Papa John’s, the parking lot filled with
coffee traffic and confidently says like a boss: For you,
it will be $40. I get that times are tough. Understand.
The nail man makes far more money than I ever will.
I know he’s got the more practical skill. He makes nail
magic. All I do is craft stories, building worlds from air.
But that isn’t something that can easily be body stamped.
You can’t capture fairies, drag them to homecoming dances,
but if you are a skilled enough weaver of spells, they can live
on computer screens and VR. Maybe at the next farmer’s
market, I can bottle up inspiration, put it on chains, charge
some mystical seeker too much. But know: I’m just trying to
squeak by. At least that’s what I tell myself to beat back panic.
Lori D’Angelo is a grant recipient from the Elizabeth George Foundation, a fellow at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts, and an alumna of the Community of Writers. She holds an MFA from West Virginia University. Her work has appeared in various literary journals including BULL, Gargoyle, Drun