SoMa Literary Review - On Fillmore Street, 2008

On Fillmore Street, 2008

By Meg Pokrass

She strides

through the city

with her Labradoodle,

hair in a retro sixties cut,

cell phone plugged in her ears,

ergonomic leather backpack.

She smiles

when people notice

the sound of her special ring tone,

chosen for her by

the adolescent kids,

(they've gone mad!)

later, licking shotfuls

of espresso with foam,

sitting with a friend

(talking about men

like rivulets going nowhere

or hair in soup.)

She says it softly:

that cancer arrived

like jellyfish on the beach

overnight,

invisible but real,

though hard to believe.

"Here's the number for my

Intuitive Healer,"

the friend says breathlessly,

"because honey, let's face it

there is nothing

more boring than death."

Meg Pokrass lives and works in San Francisco with her family, dog, two cats, and bearded dragon. Her work has appeared and is forthcoming in The Emry's Foundation Journal, Flutter Magazine, The Orange Room, Halfway Down the Stairs, 971 Menu, Toasted Cheese, The Rose and Thorn, Thieves Jargon, Eclectica, Chanterelle's Notebook, and 34th Parallel.