Winning the Lottery, 1969
After “Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out”
Every morning: the warmth
of their mattress. Every morning:
her callused husband his belly
brimming with glass.
Every morning: a touch
of gin to forget.
Because, suddenly, a leaf
of paper is enough
to trouble water.
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Cannon Fodder >>
For Jay it all began with flash fiction—how one could birth a world and its inhabitants within the limitations of a page or two, how a story could be fleeting yet timeless. Coming to terms with his new-found love for poetry, Jay combined narrative (from his history of writing prose) and the traditional lyric of poetry to create a style that he has stuck with ever since. Jay would probably be best friends with Bradbury’s Guy Montag, because who doesn’t yearn to be enlightened?