William Faller

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a priority

I was out for a walk one day
when I turned around so fast
that the world didn’t have time
to reassemble itself correctly

everything was right except a
single tree that glitched and
blinked against the afternoon sky

from the tree I heard a sound
like the screeching of modems
a rip began to appear in the fiber
of the leaves

then came a feast of trumpets
columns of light shot
out in all directions
a chorus of angels began
to sing

I was witnessing the most
important event in
the history of time

what happened next
I couldn’t tell you
I went home
it was fantasy draft night

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full of circus peanuts

the moon was full last night
according to my sources
how is a hollow moon full?
do they mean full of
circus peanuts?
what’s this about it
being a hologram?
why would buzz aldrin punch
that man in the face?
three conspiracy theorists
walk into the coffee shop
and they’re on here trying
to tell me it’s a coincidence
I should have never asked
for the wifi password
I was only trying to shop
for christmas presents

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Kathy Bates is my babysitter

The cactus in the kitchen is Pretty Linda
and the succulents are named
Rootbeer and Jellybird
They’re celebrating the birthdays of
coffee mugs, teasing the ghosts at night,
“You call this a haunting?”
The pitch slowing in time with
the momentum of the freezing river,
becoming the sound of a pickup truck
crumbling sage on tiny pallets
in a loop
eroding bone
watching the birthmark on the ceiling
disappear before
movement in the peripheral
“Paul, my little ceramic penguin in the
study always faces due south”

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what I think is happening

wine mom watching
shame of thrones
cuts the crust off
marriage vows
shaving submarine legs
with eyes like little
boxes overflowing
with kittens
she slips inside the SUV
and no one has to know
how satisfying it all is
as long as she remembers
to pick up the egg
rolls before dinner

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Banner Art:
Photo by Bruce Barrow, Unsplash, 2026