“Self Portrait with Balaclava”

One. Find samarai sword.
Two. Learn to spell
s-a-m-u-r-a-i sword.
Three. Procure pinching crab poison.
Four. Replace lame “regular” lightbulbs
in bathroom with trendy-swirly ones.
Five. Learn to Talk like Batman.
Six. Learn the difference
between fate and coincidences;
people tell me there is one.
Seven. Breathe.
Eight. Learn ninja tricks.
Nine. Learn to make ginger sauce.
Ten. This mask is getting warm.

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John David Morris Meriwether (you can call him Jack) is currently studying studio art at Wheaton College and is interested in pursuing creative writing and theater arts. Jack’s poetry has previously been published in The Midwest Literary Review, Teen Ink and Specter Literary Magazine. He would love to have been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and the dictionary, but whatever. He hopes to someday write a manifesto of scarf-wearing.