RIKKI SANTER

Zebra Lashes

My father liked to tell me stories 
about the black and white of things
and how prayer can only leave behind
a trail worth following into the rabbit hole.
Make sure nothing is too realistic
he’d say and when in doubt, lean
into the language of bray and bark.  
And don’t trust the curve of the earth
or eyelashes on creatures that have them, 
for the stye of prequel is dumb as fuck
because what will be extinct, will be extinct.
But not today I say 
when the young woman 
at her first-day, bank teller job
with purple fingernail caps
too long for the keyboard
and plastic eyelashes too heavy
for a smile was trying damned hard
which should amount to something
like zoo cages that want us to be
in states of mind for saving
as when my little daughter and I walked by
the Grevy's zebra that was taking a shit
while she batted her eyelashes like a Jezebel.