Word Choice features original works of fiction and poetry. Read two poems by Jena Osman with art by Marcelina Amelia, selected by Daniel Moysaenko.

from Public Figures

Story: You begin the day with a brisk step and sense of purpose. But as soon as you meet the first stopping point in your delivered set of coordinates, you find yourself pausing too long. Long enough to give away the farm. So you push yourself along before your task is done, so as not to give yourself away.

Image:
Thinly masked critiques at the end of the disasters.
The leader as bishop is a hawk with heads sutured at the ends of each wing.
With knees in the mud.
The parrot, the ass, the dog, the monkey, the wolf.
Infantalized humanoids, all cower in their bestial cover behind the leader like a
     cloud, his wings holding back their perfidy of which he is a part.
You are the shadow at the back, looming like a trace of escape.

Caption: Man with safety orange sweater looking in backpack, then putting it on back. Man running while on cell phone. Family of three. Troupe of charlatans.

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