I need a ribbon. Draw me a ribbon.

by Mary Ann Samyn

I need an occasion for special,
a new vocabulary word I can practice in exclamatory, interrogative,
and most of all declarative sentences.
But what would this word be? I’ve tried pony,
contrition, Mary, fine.
I’ve tried bad dream and hello sunshine!
Will any of these make the page less blank? My wrist thinner,
or maybe less thin, or bangled: a better music?
I think not.
Other people go about their business, which may or may not
relate. I assume nothing.
But birds, I’ve noticed, travel in twos. Sometimes, anyway.

Mary Ann Samyn's most recent books include Beauty Breaks In (New Issues 2009) and The Boom of a Small Cannon (Dancing Girl Press 2010). She teaches in the MFA program at West Virginia University.