Self-Portrait As Ten Lies & A Truth

By Miracle Monocle and Susan Barry-Schulz / Issue 23

My passions are meal prep and intermittent
fasting. I read Homer’s Odyssey in the original
Greek. I didn’t keep that box of pink-lined
letters—why would I? It’s hard for me
to find clothes small enough to fit my slender
frame. Ditto for shoes. I greet each morning
with a plum. I pledge allegiance to the flag.
The ceiling fan is not my lover. I wonder,
could the title be the lie? I promise I’ll be there
promptly at 8. When I was five, my whole Irish-
Estonian-American family went out for a boat ride
on the Niagara River—all except me, because
I couldn’t find one of my red leather shoes.
Shoes are essential for boat rides.

SUSAN BARRY-SCHULZ grew up just outside of Buffalo, NY. Her poetry has appeared in Rust & Moth, Dust Poetry Magazine, SoFloPoJo, B O D Y, SWWIM, Heron Tree, Shooter Literary Magazine, Bending Genres, LEON Literary Review, Okay Donkey, Quartet Journal, West Trestle Review, The Westchester Review, Stone Canoe and in many other print and online journals and anthologies. Her work has been nominated for Best of Net and Pushcart Prizes.