Carla Sarett

My Old Life as a Penguin

 

The uniform of black and white, 

not a hint of fuchsia or any bright color.

Days of Powerpoint presentations

filled with lines and arrows and peculiar 

charts that predicted future profits;   

everyone nodding as if they believed it.    

The icy conference rooms with dry

bran muffins and cafeteria coffee.

The midtown gym two blocks over, 

with spandexed women, impossibly toned.

And then, the ride on F train to Brooklyn. 

It was a longish ride to Carroll Gardens.

I could sit back and watch the other species— 

the glittery peacocks, the wild-eyed ravens.

 

 

My Future as a Squirrel

 

Robin texts me videos of her squirrels. 

A few brown-tailed animals

doing their squirrel things

nibbling on acorns or running.

She’s built them a little house.  

Lots of people do this, she says.  

I watch squirrel videos on You Tube—

there’s a world of them, stuff like

“How to Make Squirrels Happy”

That’s when I form my plan: 

I’ll buy a cheap tail at Target,  

hang out on someone’s lawn.

I’ll eat whatever is around.  

 

Let everyone make me happy. 

At least, that’s the plan.   

Carla Sarett’s work has been nominated for the Puschart Prize, Best of Net , and Best American Essays. appears or is forthcoming in Stonecoast Review, Potomac Review, San Pedro River Review, Rust and Moth and The Nassau Review.  Her latest chapbook My Family Was Like a Russian Novel is out from Plan B Press. Previous poetry books include Woman on the Run (Alien Buddha, 2023) and She Has Visions (Main Street Rag, 2022)  Carla earned her PhD from University of Pennsylvania and lives in San Francisco.