Pearl

Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune

The dollhouse
is custom made
to look like my house,
our house.
My new wife’s idea—
for Sarah.

Same front elevation.
Duplicate floorplan.

But my step daughter’s attempt
to match furniture placement
is off.
I nudge the miniature hutch
to its true location.
She frowns, pushes my hand away,
makes me move to the front yard,
so to speak.

I look at her through the windows.
She appears as if
a Goliath child.
My sling: empty after repeated shots
topenetratethefourwalls
of her heart.

I lean low,
peer inside the front door.
“Knock, knock,” I say.

She never answers.

Keith T. Hoerner, B.S., M.F.A., lives, works, and pushes words around in Southern Illinois. He is the founding editor of The Dribble Drabble Review and has been featured in numerous national / international literary journals, as well as anthologies, and other publications. This is his first book.