Robbie Gamble
Stay for a Spell
you insouciant pile of dither
and I will alleviate your drift.
Ignore the tattooed mannequin
in the antechamber to the vestibule.
He’s only there to punctuate
the ennui that often ensues.
Darling, this is your first incant, no?
Five broad grains of scarlet humour
and a pinch of chyme at the temples
should sufficiently disgust. If not,
a clabbered poultice of tardigrade
and durian may be kept at hand
to augment your retch. It’s January,
and fallow drifts lie here and there,
wry for the picking. Feel eclectic?
Excellent. Now, let me auscultate
your childhood, just to leave no vein
verklempt. After seventeen circuits
of the crenellated plinth, your rivals
will have a change of spleen. Proffer
the three of cups in homage, assume
the lion rampant. Seven more whips
of a pestle and a swatch of vetch
on a dodecahedron, and you’ll
be blood-rooted to the spot.
Robbie Gamble (he/him) is the author of the chapbook A Can of Pinto Beans (Lily Poetry Review Press, 2022). His poems have appeared in Slipstream, Indianapolis Review, Post Road, Salamander, and The Sun. He divides his time between Boston and an apple orchard in Vermont.
Banner Art:
Seven of Spades, The Witches Ride, from Harlequin Cards, 2nd Series (N220)
Issued by Kinney Bros. 1889
