My Work in the November 2019 issue of Scifaikuest — Part II

by

John J. Dunphy

Me and My Big Mouth

I didn’t mean to offend her. I really didn’t.

I was taking my alien neighbor on a tour of my award-winning rose garden. She asked me what’s my favorite rose color. I immediately replied, “Blood red!”

After a moment of icy silence, my neighbor pressed one of her fingers into a rose thorn. She then launched into a diatribe about the implied bigotry of such Earthcentric language and accused me of being an alienophobe.

***

dripping from

my neighbor’s pricked finger

green blood

John J. Dunphy’s scifaiku collections include Dark Nebulae and Stellar Possibilities, both published by Alban Lake.