From Part Four of Kristin Abraham’s book The Disappearing Cowboy Trick
Shuffle
The magician had gone through ten rabbits unaware—they all pulled
the same, he said; they pulled long and not long, they whirled and
made dizzy. Backstage, props sobbed and blotted their own slick
petals, peeling paint, sticky eyes. How groggy this light, he said, How
the sun also stutters. Backstage, the tiger and the sequin-girls stood
guard; the others—saws, scarves, doves—rusted and crumbled in
attempts to run off. So, the curtain came down; so, the lights went
up. We turned—we always turn—but the room is a box stuck with
swords, and he is a pile of silks and handcuffs. He is also running
off—the echo of is this your card now a language of palm and coin,
now the weight of the ace up our sleeve.
—
This selection comes from Kristen Abraham’s book The Disappearing Cowboy Trick, available from Horse Less Press. Purchase your copy here!
Kristin Abraham was born and raised in Michigan. She currently lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with her husband, three dogs, and two cats. She teaches English at a community college in Wyoming and serves as editor-in-chief and poetry editor for the literary journal Spittoon (www.spittoonmag.com).
T.A. Noonan is the author of several books and chapbooks, most recently four sparks fall: a novella (Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, 2013) and, with Erin Elizabeth Smith, Skate or Die (Dusie Kollektiv, 2014). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Reunion: The Dallas Review, West Wind Review, Hobart, Ninth Letter, and Phoebe, among others. A weightlifter, crafter, priestess, and all-around woman of action, she serves as the Associate Editor of Sundress Publications, Founding Editor of Flaming Giblet Press, and Literary Arts Director for the Sundress Academy of the Arts.
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