by John Dorroh
The Elves and the Child of Divorce
The elves, freed and clothed, left the shoemaker and made
their way to the Chicago-land area. Here,
they plied their skilled trade making sports cleats and gym shoes
for those who would otherwise shop at Payless Shoes.
When I learned they were in town, I wrote them letters
addressed to “Elves – Destabilizing the Market,”
a title I thought quite fair. The letters pleaded
to their business sense sure to note “for services
rendered.” I wrote, “Surely, you are tired from mending
shoes for a hundred years. I’ve got a shoe-like ‘problem’
I think would test the finest cobbler amongst you.”
I went years unsure if they received the letters.
Today, while teaching my kid how really to drag her A’s,
my father called. Between a story about lost
money and the electrical complexities
of a bay, he said, “I went to dinner with your
mother.” I knew then, it had worked! I bring my nose
to their nose and whisper, “I’ll weep until the sun
comes up.” And I cry. Even when I hear their cries
disappear into the night—the price bargained for, paid.
Michael VanCalbergh currently lives in Normal, IL. His work has appeared in The Chicago Reader, Verum Literary Press, After Hours Magazine, and many other spaces. He writes reviews for the Comics Beat and reads poetry for SRPR. You can find him on BlueSky and Twitter @mvcpoet.
John Dorroh travels whenever he can. He often ends up in people’s kitchens exchanging culinary secrets and tall tales. “Through food there is communion,” he says. Six of his poems were nominated for Best of the Net. Hundreds of others appeared in fine journals such as Kissing Dynamite, River Heron, Feral, Burningword, and North Dakota Quarterly. He once was awarded Editor’s Choice Award from a Midwest journal with a monetary prize large enough for two sushi dinners.