Pg. 48 — WTF, WHO SENT THIS? by Alison Jennings
It arrives in an envelope, sent from
nowhere, return address unknown.
The envelope’s hand-written, but the style
is neither human nor machine-generated,
blobs of chicken scratches and curlicues.
In the corner is a strange postage stamp
from an unnamed country, showing arid
landscape, bird-like aliens, futuristic city
in the background, silver turrets gleaming.
There’s an illegible postmark, numbers
and dates blurred—maybe backwards?
I have no clue who sent me this, or why.
Inside is more perplexing: a Polaroid
of Mt. Rainier (inactive volcano 70 miles
away), purportedly with spiritual power.
Hovering over the mountain may be clouds,
yet they resemble UFOs—massive, the size
and shape of dirigibles, like the spacecraft
in that sci-fi movie, except now sideways.
Should I post this on the Internet, notify
authorities, or run for cover? Hard to know
what’s right, so I toss it into the wastebasket;
from where, the next morning, it’s gone, leaving
only an oddly-colored feather and a pile of sand.
Alison Jennings
Alison is a Seattle-based poet who began submitting her work after retiring from public school teaching. Recently, she has had 45 poems published and won 3rd place or honorable mention in several contests. Please visit her website for details.