Rocking Zebra Déjà vu
Donna Dallas
“I
might foam at the mouth,
but
bring me a doll to play with,
give
me a cup of tea with sugar in it,
and
maybe I should be appeased.”
-Notes from the
Underground, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
This wooden
rocking zebra…..
no idea where it
came from
can’t fall asleep
until
after 11pm with or
without a pill
I’ve no real reason
I’m staring
in the mirror
cold eyes
glare back
spark
gone
That rocking zebra
must have
belonged to a
child
she must have
giddily rocked on it
tipped back and
forth
laughed with hair
tumbling
in sync with the
rock
I don’t recall
when - as it is now past midnight
I stopped rocking
I have come to
know this silence
as I stare into it
until bleary-eyed
until the zebra
stripes blur into each other
hair still
tumbling
Donna
Dallas: I studied Creative Writing and Philosophy at NYU’s Gallatin School and
was lucky enough to study under William Packard, founder and editor of the New
York Quarterly. Lately, I am found in Horror Sleaze Trash, Beatnik Cowboy
and The Opiate among many other publications. I published my first novel, Death
Sisters, with Alien Buddha Press. My first chapbook, Smoke & Mirrors, will
launch this fall with New York Quarterly. I currently serve on the editorial
team for Red Fez and New York Quarterly.
