"We Rang In 2012 At The Bingo Hall In Dillsburg, PA" by Brittany Micka-Foos

watched a pickle drop in the so-called pickle capital of the world one of many

new years I rifle through the rolodex through the aughts of our marriage our numberless

meetings our fleeting afternoons of SNL reruns I’m all verklempt. I’ll give you a topic:

time is an illusion that moves relative to an observer. Talk amongst yourselves. Where are they

now? The grave glossy snapshots vacation photos Amazonian parrot on my shoulder retained

only on outdated technology things I can’t access anymore I misplaced the drive muddied

your smile reflected in brackish waters each ripple its own landscape a lodestar ferrying me back

to who we were once fossicking for memorabilia in a universe flush with nostalgia. Remember

the 90s? We’d rag on bad TV with a cartooned violence the separation between past present

future is parody isn’t it ironic? How the act of looking back contorts the memory? Don’t

the jokes we used to laugh at seem cruel now? Everything eventually winds up in reruns

reboots itself until nothing is sacred still if I could turn back time I would barter gravity I would

bring you back

Brittany Micka-Foos is the author of the poetry chapbook "a litany of words as fragile as window glass" (Bottlecap Press, 2024) and the short story collection "It's No Fun Anymore" (forthcoming, Apprentice House Press, 2025). Her work has been published in Ninth Letter, Witness Magazine, NonBinary Review, Hobart, and elsewhere. Read more at www.brittanymickafoos.com.