Carla Sarett
At Midnight, the Fox Sisters Hear Taps in their Bedroom, 1848
It’s not what we knew but what knew us,
made us fear the night
in that rat-infested farmhouse.
We unlocked the outside gate
so Father could stumble home from a filthy bar
force his body inside
then tried to ignore
his gin-soaked talk of sin and pride
that kept us paralyzed in bed. April Fool’s,
only a joke, we said ages
after we’d lost our cash and jewels
on outrageous
transgressions, after every card
and prophesy was fake. Yet that first rap—
we can’t explain what was conjured—
it’s chancy to wake the dead up.
[first line inspired by A.E. Stallings, “The Little Owl”]
Carla Sarett writes poetry, fiction and, occasionally, essays; and has been nominated for the Pushcart, Best American Essays, Best Microfictions, and Best of Net. She has published one full-length collection, She Has Visions (Main Street Rag, 2022) and two chapbooks, including My Family Was Like a Russian Novel (Plan B, 2023). Carla has a PhD from University of Pennsylvania and is based in San Francisco.