Jacquelyn Shah

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Jackal: opportunistic; frequents rubbish dumps
in pursuit of food; most active at dawn or dusk;
represented as wily, a trickster; makes unique 
sounds to deliver a message; used as literary
device to illustrate loneliness.

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I am jacql 
crepuscular, incredulous
Had I been god there would be
no dust  lint  lust  loneliness
or seasons of treason

I am jacql at dawn
listing to the side to avoid 
a leaking of inner anger
No rage here
just hunger

Jacql, my cunning
and trickery trigger
a tracking of shimmering
words, to purloin
repurpose and twist  

As jacql at dusk
I close eyes to see not
what one more day has been 
in the Land of Missing 
Truth  

            Truth?
Opportunistic, I’m jacql 
I chew on residue left
after its slaughter, and  slow 
awful   bleeding   out
What I eat is acrid,
but then, I’m jacql

 

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JACQUELYN “JACSUN” SHAH, iconoclast, pacifist: A.B., English (Rutgers U); M.A., English (Drew U); M.F.A., Ph.D., English literature/creative writing (U of Houston). Publications: chapbook—small fry; full-length book—What to Do with Red; poems in journals; Winner: Literal Latté’s 2018 Food Verse Contest. She loves what’s quirky and/or surrealistic in literature . . . and life.