Steve is comforted by the fact that humans are top of the food-chain.
His sister Keri’s greatest wish is for some cute guy
to stand beneath her window and sing Harry Styles songs to her.
If it’s the actual Harry Styles, so much the better.
To their mother, Harriet, everything is a matter of life and death.
Her husband, Frank says you have to make trouble’s strength work against it.
Harriet long ago threw up her hands at the ever-changing world of fashion.
Steve’s best friend, Kurt would like nothing more than an inner being.
Keri’s paranoid about all the minute creatures crawling on her skin.
Frank was the oldest person in his graduating class to own a laptop.
Keri’s best friend, Hannah can’t swim but can often be found posing,
at the town pool, at the very end of the diving board.
Steve considers his parents to be small-minded.
Kurt so much wanted a drum-kit for his birthday
but his divorced mom bought him a rifle instead.
Frank has an abnormal fear of being sued for slander.
Hannah’s dad, Roy is always saying how there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
He can only name one.
Steve longs for powers beyond those of mortal men.
When Kurt grows up, he wants to be a slumlord.
Keri’s on-and-off boyfriend, Derrick collects critters in jars.
Harriet considers rap artists the worst of humanity.
In her teenage years, she worshiped Guns ‘n’ Roses.
Steve has yet to find any use for his self-choreographed victory dance.
When Keri is ten years older, she plans to take stock of her life.
Roy has sold fewer used cars this year than all three of his co-workers.
Hannah’s often found on her front doorstep, rehearsing how to say goodbye to a guy.
Kurt’s experiences with bullies have been fearful and demeaning
but, as yet, none have ended in bloodshed.
Harriet possesses nothing that will increase in value in the coming years.
Having lived all his life in the suburbs, Frank has never been
in a position where he had to find a needle in a haystack.
When Roy writes out a check for his mortgage payment,
he deliberately doesn’t cross the t’s or dot the i’s.
Steve, recently introduced to tacos, is yet to make up his mind
as to whether he likes them or not.
Frank, always a team player, once dreamed of being
the third guy from the left in a firing squad.
Hannah is comforted by the fact that no terrorist attacks
have ever been carried out in a suburban setting.
Roy is the only one at the lot who still reads the newspaper funny pages.
Steve is a major reason behind Frank’s vasectomy.
Derrick often says, if he had it all to do over again, he wouldn’t change a thing.
The frog (name unknown) in his biggest, smelliest jar is of a different mindset.
John Grey is an Australian poet, U.S. resident, and recently published in New World Writing, City Brink and Tenth Muse. His latest books, Subject Matters, Between Two Fires, and Covert are available through Amazon. He has work upcoming in Hawaii Pacific Review, Amazing Stories, and Cantos.
Euphony Journal 