Two Rivers, by Mikki Aronoff

Two Rivers
       
for RBG
 
I lace and ribbon as jennies must these days. I velvet. But they ill-equip me for this passage. The farrier, too fond of the file, has honed my hooves to a fare-thee-well. The woodworker has whittled my oar to a splinter. Rowing the skiff is like stirring lumpy porridge with a hair. Empty clay pots and a burning house weigh on my back. I’m used to burdens but blurt a protest. The jacks bray louder. They strut and shackle and stunt. Flames lick towards stars, and I aim for the faraway shore. Before we become ash. Before the next commandment.

Mikki Aronoff

This piece was written in response to The Two Rivers, by El Gato Chimney. View it here.
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Mikki Aronoff writes in New Mexico. Her work appears in New World Writing, The Ekphrastic Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Tiny Molecules, The Disappointed Housewife, Bending Genres, Milk Candy Review, Gone Lawn, Mslexia, The Dribble Drabble Review, and elsewhere. She has received Pushcart, Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, and Best Microfiction nominations.