Prize

Prize

By: Jonathan Fletcher

The way you tell me
how you found me—inside glass,
under lights, surrounded
by other babies, mostly dark like me—
I sometimes feel like a stuffed toy
inside a claw machine.

I know that wasn’t your intention.
I know we weren’t interchangeable.
I know you were looking for a boy.
What if you’d spotted Carlos first?
What if Francisco had smiled at you?
What if the rickety claw had broken?

I know you wouldn’t have left—
eyes on me, thumb on joystick—
adjusted your timing, inserted coin after coin.
I know you would’ve banged the glass,
tilted the machine. Maybe you
would’ve lost; thankfully, I didn’t.

Lucky me, winning you.

Jonathan Fletcher
Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Jonathan Fletcher holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Columbia University School of the Arts.  He has been published in Acropolis Journal, The Adroit Journal, Arts Alive San Antonio, The BeZine, BigCityLit, Book of Matches Literary Journal, Catch the Next: Journal of Ideas and Pedagogy, Colossus Press, Curio Cabinet, Door is a Jar, DoubleSpeak, Emerge Literary Journal, Flora Fiction, FlowerSong Press, fws: a journal of literature & art, Half Hour to Kill, Heimat Review, Hyacinth Review, LONE STARS, Midway Journal, The MockingOwl Roost-An Art and Literary Magazine, MONO., Moot Point, The Muse, The Nelligan Review, The New Croton Review, New Feathers Anthology, OneBlackBoyLikeThat Review, The Opal, Open Ceilings, Otherwise Engaged Journal: A Literature and Arts Journal, The Phare, Quibble, Rigorous, riverSedge: A Journal of Art and Literature, Route 7 Review, The San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio Living, San Antonio Public Library, Speakeasy, Spoonie Press, Synkroniciti, Tabula Rasa Review, The Thing Itself, TEJASCOVIDO, Unlikely Stories Mark V, Vagabond City Literary Journal, voicemail poems, Voices de la Luna: A Quarterly Literature & Arts Magazine, Waco WordFest, Whale Road Review, and Yearling: A Poetry Journal for Working Writers.  Additionally, his work has been featured by The League of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area and at the Briscoe Western Art Museum and the San Antonio Museum of Art.  In 2023, his work was also chosen as a finalist for the Plentitudes Prize in Poetry.  That same year, his work was also chosen as a finalist for Synkroniciti’s Poetry Prize for its Issue, “Broken.” He has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Additionally, he has served as a Columbia Artist/Teacher for New York City’s iHOPE, a specialized school for students with traumatic brain injuries, as well as a poetry editor for Exchange, Columbia University’s literary magazine for incarcerated writers and artists.  Currently, he serves as a Zoeglossia Fellow.  
Featured Image By: cloud delfina cardona

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