Tire under the bridge
hangs by ribbons
knotted from plastic straws.
It swings back and forth
by the breath of a bored witch
winking from an abandoned building.
And then the tire stretches,
droops into a thin ovoid
as soot-angels from the drainage
clamber for a spot to play—
their rust wings crackling
on the heads of line-cutting scoundrels.
Grass blades hiss warning
at the strike of three, the witch retreats
and the angels dribble down the way they came.
Children in school uniforms fill the streets.
They take turns on the tire swing.
–Anne Carly Abad
Anne Carly Abad is currently busy trying to learn a new trick—jewelry-making.
Her written work has appeared or will appear in NameL3ss Digest, Apex, and Not
One of Us. Her science fiction novel The Light Bringer’s Kingdom saw print this year and is now available at Amazon.