Italiks

MY PALIMPSEST

by Deborah L. Davitt

The words have determined

to eat me today—

the lower case i tosses its

tittle at me like a slingstone,

rattling my teeth as I run; 

behind it, hordes of capitals,

all menacing ascenders

and hooked spines

follow, waving their 

sharp-pointed serifs

like the weapons they are.

A treacherous j 

waits in ambush,

jabbing its descender

into the flesh of my calf

like a fishhook,

then wraps itself around me

like a ligature

till they can bind me to the 

crossbar of an H 

and drag me back

to face their finial judgment, 

for the crime of misusing

so many of their kin.

I plead for mercy before

their open counters and apertures,

but the result of the court 

is most terminal;

I’m to be cast out,

into the margin, 

that no-man’s land

where only scribbles

and random thoughts

may dwell.

Deborah L. Davitt was raised in Nevada, but currently lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and son. Her award-winning poetry and prose have appeared in over seventy journals, including F&SF, Asimov’s, Analog, and Lightspeed.

For more about her work, including her Elgin-placing poetry collections, Bounded by Eternity and From Voyages Unreturning, see www.deborahldavitt.com.