The medium Mary Carter first told me my fortune in the ‘40s using the Syco-Slate. Her holiness crawled into me. Spirits moved the chalk. A message. In the end I’d be slit open and would die alone in a field. I’d have two children. It was certain and decidedly so. Years later, one morning, everything was blue-dyed alcohol. I was in a magic 8 ball wrapped up on a shelf. All I had was the icosahedron. I could no longer sleep so I asked twenty sides twenty questions, things you’d want to know.
1. Are the birds trying to tell me something about my lover? Without a doubt.
2. Should I listen to the dove? My sources say no.
3. Should I listen to the pigeons? As I see it, yes.
4. Are pigeons aliens from the stars? Yes definitely.
5. Do their feathers communicate in shimmers? Yes.
6. When I’m in love, have I just been abducted by pigeons? Most likely.
7. Is my lover a man? Concentrate and ask again.
8. Is she? It is certain.
9. Am I a fissure? Cannot predict now.
10. Is my skull made of fabric? Outlook good.
11. Are there fractals in the fabric poems? It is decidedly so.
12. Are there mothers dying again in a bowl inside of me? Yes.
13. Are they in the syllables of my fetus? Reply hazy. Try again.
14. Are these syllables in cups? Signs point to yes.
15. Is my womb a word? Very doubtful.
16. Is my womb a sentence? Ask again later.
17. Am I good enough? Don’t count on it.
18. Did she really want to take her life? You may rely on it.
19. Is this a sign? Better not tell you now.
20. Are we doing it wrong? Outlook not so good.
After the last prediction, a shadow of Mary Carter came out of the corner, cursing her son in a surge of frightened tears, red in the blue dye. She rocked back and forth. Will he ever love me? My sources say no. We were both trapped in black plastic. Men were shooting pool and drinking beer. My two children were out there in the field with birds. Her slate told us we’d really never get out. I kept asking in circles.
Julia Kooi Talen is an MFA candidate at Northern Michigan University where she reads for Passages North and teaches college composition. Her work can be found or is forthcoming in LandLocked Magazine, Lammergeier Magazine, Burning House Press, and in other publications. She lives in a book fort.