*GATOR SPRINGS GAZETTE
a literary journal of the fictional persuasion
ALLIGATOR CHORUS

Poetry by Thomas O’Connell

IN ANOTHER FISH TANK

    Wherever I reside,
    I am always in love
    with the next
    town over, coveting
    my neighbor’s chamber
    of commerce. I eat

    at the luncheonettes and
    frequent the barber
    shops, longing
    for charging privileges
    at the public library.

    I buy squash
    and local honey at
    their farmers’ market
    and forgive them
    the sulfuric stench emitted
    from the match company.

    When a storm puts their
    main street two feet
    under water, I only
    feel compassion.
    I don’t have to think

    about getting my car
    to higher ground and
    am free to worry: what
    will become of the windmill
    at the miniature
    golf course?

MONSTERS THAT SCARE NOBODY
    Two photographs lying
    side by side
    so that the subjects

    appear to be looking
    at one another—they

    do not know
    each other, nor

    are we able to
    introduce them.
    This is not heaven.

THE GORILLA’S ESCAPE
    We like to read
    of far away places
    like Kuala Lumpur
    or the Little Rock Zoo
    where the children’s train
    circles the prairie dogs
    and treacherous things
    can happen to strangers.
    We like to imagine
    a life of danger
    though remembering to
    turn off the stove
    is all our weak
    hearts can bear.

RESPECT FOR AN OLD TRAIN
    I don’t even remember
    the gauge, but when
    I see one like it in the
    hobby store window
    I remember the houses
    and people outside
    frozen, yet waving.

SLEEP COMES EASILY
    Lullaby of night sounds, radio
    left on, tuned to an all night
    talk show from Baltimore

    encouraging hours of
    welcomed insomnia, listening
    to what the Maryland

    insomniacs have on their
    minds, drifting away
    sometime during a commercial.

© Thomas O'Connell Thomas O'Connell (toc1964@yahoo.com) is a librarian living in the mountains of southwestern Virginia with his wife and a couple of swell daughters. A 2004 Pushcart Nominee, his poems and stories have appeared in Tarpaulin Sky, Cranky, and Flashquake as well as other print and online magazines.

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