Brain Fair by A.J. Huffman

Three mental cognition organs wait
on their respective pedestals to be
dunked by onlookers into dumb juice,
Each pondering the series of
events that led them here . . .

The first was pressured
by a vindictive competitor, who made it feel
foolish for its initial refusal to participate.
It shouldn’t have let its ego trigger trip.
Would a yellow label really have been so bad . . .

The second was a sucker. Fell
pray to its own empathetic nature. The pleas
of the most recent charitable cause. It should have
written a check . . .

The last was a volunteer. It had learned enough
to know that ignorance truly is bliss. It seized
the opportunity. Respectfully thanking its mama
for not raising a fool.


A.J. Huffman has published seven solo chapbooks and one joint chapbook through various small presses. Her eighth solo chapbook, Drippings from a Painted Mind, won the 2013 Two Wolves Chapbook Contest. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her poetry, fiction, and haiku have appeared in hundreds of national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, Bone Orchard, EgoPHobia, Kritya; and Offerta Speciale, in which her work appeared in both English and Italian translation. She is also the founding editor of Kind of a Hurricane Press.