This is a bowl of broth.

by Mary Ann Samyn

Having won a sweepstakes, a doll goes out walking.

Her heels click along the pavement.

Her legs are ultra-thin.

Above her, the extra sky she’s read about, some cloud a tab to pull.

The only thing to fear is fear.

Her hair lifts in a breeze of commuters.

She pretends she is an animal loose in the city.

No net—not even the bitter pill of fortune—can catch her.

Mary Ann Samyn's most recent books include Beauty Breaks In (New Issues 2009) and The Boom of a Small Cannon (Dancing Girl Press 2010). She teaches in the MFA program at West Virginia University.