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"Forkless at Noon" by Kyla Houbolt





Helios got very weary of driving the sun so I agreed to help out. But on the way I lost my forks and had to stop long enough to call the fork store. Then I wondered, could I drive the sun without my forks? I didn't know but what I did know was I must not be late, not by one second, for my first day of driving the sun. When I arrived to take the reins, Helios was not impatient, because he was napping and had no idea I'd rushed up with less than a second to spare. I jumped into the chariot and one of the horses nickered at me, "But, girl, where are your forks?" I had so hoped no one would notice the forks were missing. I was not able to get a special order delivered at this hour, and I told the horse, "Oh, they are going to meet us later, around lunchtime when we will have our regular picnic" and this seemed to satisfy him. I sure hoped the picnic would go okay without forks! The horse's golden sheen glimmered accusingly at me, as though it knew I was dissembling, but what else could I do? The sun must go on, forks or no forks! We'd deal with the picnic when we got there, and failing all else, I still had plenty of spoons.



Kyla Houbolt occupies Catawba territory in Gastonia, NC. Her first two chapbooks, Dawn's Fool and Tuned were published in 2020, and Tuned is soon to be released in a digital version. More about them, and her individually published pieces online can be found on her Linktree, https://linktr.ee/luaz_poet. She is on Twitter @luaz_poet.

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