(100 Words = Ekatolexon) Pen House Poem by Christos R. Tsiailis

Dark skin means too much cold, mother said, but I refused to move to Africa with them. Dada ate Mama. I stayed in my pen, locked forever. Next day I came out and swabbed the ink from the living squid I kept to feed my left wisdom tooth. I removed it with a blue napkin but it didn’t work. That’s when I called my mentor, “Come stay with me”. She told me, “I already have sons”. But I was a girl! And she knew! How ever on earth would a young snail like her turn to a full able-bodied leech?