AFTER THE AUDIOLOGIST

by Cletus Crow

my right ear has hearing loss

blame dove hunts
or one earbud
but it’s harder now
for the angel on that shoulder
getting attention

imagine decades
shouting around a human head
when once you sang perfect
crooning god’s glories
at his face

the devil offers to share my left side

him and pitchfork points
gleam ruby

Cletus Crow is mostly a poet