A Bright Idea, by Zvi A. Sesling

Melinda walks down the street as I come out of my house. 

Hi Melinda, I say, I didn’t know you were pregnant again. 

I’m not, she says, this is my bulb. 

Bulb, What bulb, I ask? 

The one the aliens gave me when they kidnapped me, she says  
matter-of-factly. 

Which aliens?  

Those blue ones, the ones that look like spoiled egg salad.  

Why a bulb, I ask? 

So I can see in the dark. All I wanted was a simple 60 or 100 watt 
job. They gave me this three-way thing. 

Makes sense to me, I say, starting the propeller on my head. 

Zvi A. Sesling, Brookline, MA Poet Laureate (2017-2020), has published numerous poems and flash/micro fiction and won international prizes. A five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he has published four volumes and three chapbooks of poetry. His flash fiction book is Secret Behind The Gate. He lives in Brookline, MA. with his wife Susan J. Dechter.