Plan to Free

DM O'Connor has an MFA from University College Dublin & the University of New Mexico. He is a contributing reviewer for Rhino Poetry and fiction editor at Bending Genres. His work has appeared in Splonk, A New Ulster, Dodging the Rain, Cormorant, Crannog, Opossum, The New Quarterly, and The Guardian. He has been nominated for several Pushcarts and is the recipient of the 2021 Cuirt International Award for Fiction and the Tom Gallon Prize from the UK Society of Authors. "Plan to Free" is in Short Circuit #06, Short Édition's quarterly review.

The dog ate the turkey. Then killed all the village swans, piled the white corpses at the front door, impossible to hide, a pyre to be paid for with exile. In the orange school bus, every morning and afternoon, no matter the snow or dust, we'd lower the windows and hang out from the waist, yelling across the rutabaga fields and hail our dog chained to a tractor tire. We conspired to pedal under star-cover with chain-cutters and hairpins to pick locks and unleash dreams. We planned escape routes down beaver creeks, flow-following to a great lake mouth, over the falls, to sea salt. We'd be Vikings, Conquistadors, Voyagers, Braves; the first to find the strait. We'd live off seal pelt and whale blubber and albatross breast. We'd suck octopus tentacles to keep scurvy at bay. We'd breed a whole continent of dogs, horse islands, cat jungles, pig mountains. In winter, we'd burn the news for warmth, asking for nothing, saying nothing to adults, which we'd never become, a fate equivalent to death. Our arms would turn legs. Our snouts would grow long. Fingers to paw. Our ears would hear everything.

© Short Édition - All Rights Reserved

5

You might also like…

Poetry

Stick Better

Taffeta Chime

I watched as one wave of people flowed off the train and another wave flowed on—just like the waves at the beach pushing and pulling on my toes. I wagged my feet as I remembered the sensation. I ... [+]

Poetry

The Moon in the Stars

Philippe Gourdin

Captain Peck is beside himself. Timmy has disappeared! The captain's concern is magnified by the darkness that has swallowed the ship, a sliver of cloud now covering the moon. 

He motions to ... [+]

Poetry

Just A Fish

A.M. Dodds-Wade

We spent hours at the store. Allison examined each animal one by one. She studied their movements, their noises and their smells. She looked at their feathers, spots, fur patterns, and colors. She ... [+]