Faber #2, Graphite

Some­times hus­bands take it well. This one cor­nered Mason at the road­house, drove a pen­cil up his ear canal. Reg­is­tered dis­ap­point­ment when it hit bone, stopped. Mason dropped like an abba­toir steer, his newest girl­friend shout­ing, “Mur­der­er!” Qui­eter hus­bands drink the lemon­ade when hand­ed lemons. His­tor­i­cal­ly an abun­dance of wrecked homes accrue, then Mason moves for safe­ty rea­sons. Nor­mal­ly in time. Straight men fetishize women’s legs, their behinds, Mason grooves on wed­ding bands. For­ev­er diamonds—an irre­sistible chal­lenge. An enraged cuck­old pen­e­trates the rogue’s ear drum, sends a deep, direct mes­sage. Received. First stop, E.R., then find a mov­ing van.

TODD MERCER won the Dyer-Ives Kent Coun­ty Prize for Poet­ry in 2016, the Nation­al Writ­ers Series Poet­ry Prize for 2016, and the Grand Rapids Fes­ti­val of the Arts Flash Fic­tion Award for 2015. His dig­i­tal chap­book, Life-wish Main­te­nance,appeared at Right Hand Point­ing. Mercer’s recent poet­ry and fic­tion appear in: 100 Word Sto­ry, Bartle­by Snopes, Blast Fur­nace, Eunoia Review, The Fib Review, The Ekphras­tic Review, EXPOUND, Flash Fron­tier Mag­a­zine, Flash Fic­tion Mag­a­zine, Fried Chick­en and Cof­fee, The Lake, The Mag­no­lia Review, Plum Tree Tav­ern, Post­card Shorts, Soft­blow Jour­nal, Star 82 Review and Two Cities Review.