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Glen Armstrong

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The Bedside Book of Cryptids
  
I was rehearsing what I would say.
            I had lined up some cocktail toothpicks.

It was one of those days that makes us
            believe in Bigfoot,

            the sky more shadow
            than a maker of shadows.

We all need a little downtime.

            To be that which we’ve marked
            our trails by.

            To speak like a Viking.
            To smolder.

Most smoke and all spoken word
            is imaginary, anyhow.

All but a few scraps of Viking bone
            are likewise, imagined.

The more I invented what to say,
            the darker the sky grew.

            The fewer my options.

The landscape and my desk and the best loved
            stories of lovers everywhere

            were laid out before me.
            The sharpened sticks love smuggles

            across the border all seemed
            highly unlikely.
Glen Armstrong edits a poetry journal called Cruel Garters and has three recent chapbooks: Set List (Bitchin Kitsch,) In Stone and The Most Awkward Silence of All (both Cruel Garters Press.) 
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