Riley Winchester

In the Cartoons They Never Fall Until They Look Down

Which is bullshit, don’t you think? Sky-walking across the precipice so peacefully ignorant and mentally cataleptic—at cloud level, a hackneyed trick by the cartoonists to show the gravity of the situation or the gravitas of the fall—and KERPLAT the daydream ends once they happen to look down. Then they drop like anchors destined for the callused floor. Born into it. And, you know, I guess it’s true that you can’t burn out if you were never on fire. So they look down and selfimmolate and the descension begins, like Icarus, in a way. Only instead of flying too high and committing hubris their sin was taking themselves out of the moment and looking down—for God’ s sake, never ever look down; look straight and keep going. And we were taught this at such a young age. Every Saturday morning they inculcated it into us. Never look down. But we couldn’t resist, like the forbidden fruit dangling from the vines of our toes, we just had to look. It’s bullshit, don’t you think? Or is it deadly accurate?

Self Portrait in a Quiet Delivery Room

Plum face purple baby cheeks ballooning the eyes shut umbilical cord scarf cinching the oxygen mainline calming the wind creating stasis can she too smell her shit that’s been lock-loaded into my nostrils the first picture of me age newborn all dead and ugly water on brain shit occupying nose E. coli usurping cells a mother’s love is stronger than her fears and now I wonder if she’ s ever seen me uglier now that she’s met me.

One Day Everything Changed

Well, not everything, but a big thing changed in a very big way. Inanimate things became animated and people were relegated to inanimation. All of a sudden washing machines were waving to pianos. Towels were smiling at lamps. I saw a stop sign hug a toilet seat. An alarm clock was singing and a dumpster dancing. A toaster thought he wasn’t given a fair shake in life and that all the loveseats and doors he worked with had better lives than him, so he robbed a liquor store. Oh, and that liquor store raped a nightstand. And a marble strangled a telephone over a little misunderstanding. Can you believe that?

Upon Some Reflection and Cursory Googling, I’ve Discovered a Hole

In the memory of my childhood. I thought we watched Looney Tunes every morning as he got ready for work. I can see him in the kitchen packing a lunch as I sit in the living room, the glow of the tv spotlighting me in an otherwise sightless room. I split my attention between him and Looney Tunes. He’d sit and watch with me for a couple minutes before he had to leave. But I was thinking, and I did some searching, and Looney Tunes likely wasn’t on at that time. Makes more sense that we watched the morning news. He’d get caught up before the day started, and I’d sit and watch with him, not understanding any of it but pretending that it all made sense. At breakfast I drank milk from a Looney Tunes glass, so in a confluence of memory I believe I’ve conflated the senses and created my own scene. Or did I eat Eggo waffles off a Looney Tunes plate? Did I wear Bugs Bunny pajamas in those days? Now I’m the one feeling looney to the tune of misremembrance.