Snežana Žabić
French Garage
It’s the 60s again, Wisconsin is an ocean
with a thriving coral reef, and you’re sipping
liquid sugar and smoke. Meanwhile,
only a wren’s shelter inside a cactus
can hold enough water to quench
your epochal thirst. A customer asked you
for mint in her tea instead of lavender,
yet another need you couldn’t possibly meet.
How about a propeller instead of a chair?
A refrigerator instead of a mirror?
An elf ear instead of a mescal agave plant
in the desert dome?
A hermaphrodite banana flower
instead of a grandfather clock?
You’re still in the Rust Belt
and, just as you’re about to bike past
the last chocolate factory in Milwaukee,
Zheng Xiaoqiong wraps
an injured coworker’s hand in a poem,
and she blows you a machine kiss.
Snežana Žabić is the author of the short story collection "U jednom životu" (KOS, Serbia, 1996), the hybrid memoir "Broken Records" (punctum books, USA, 2016), and the poetry collections "Po(jest)zija/Po(eat)ry" (SKC NS, Serbia, 2013) written with Ivana Percl, "The Breath Capital" (New Meridian Arts, USA, 2016), and "Concrete Is More Beautiful Disfigured and Stained" (Match Factory Editions, 2025). She plays guitar, writes songs, and sings in Rent Party, everyone’s favorite feminist garage folk band. She teaches writing and literature at Chicago State University.