In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • The Philosophical Nature of Peeps
  • Diane DeCillis (bio)

Nested, attached, fused in symbioticharmony—gooey quintets of flat-bottomedpuffs—                    there are no singularPeeps, no loners—always packagedin flocked procession.                                Note theirresistance to being pulled apart,how their skin crusts like sugared armor.

Is it preservatives or preservationthat allows them to retain those resolutepostures—hold their tiny dip-dot gaze?

Were Peeps philosophers they’d bethe Stoics, if they were saints—the Joan of Arcs—accepting life’s

vicissitudes as part of theircollective destiny.                    Once I realized

these marigold chicks couldtranscend their confectionarycontours, I bloomed them

in the microwave, roasted theminto gelatinous oneness,the caramel scent of sugar

wafting as they sank into amorphouspuddle—no screams, no wicked witchmelting on yellow road.

Left exposed, they become that road,hard as brick—yet still desireddespite their stalwart staleness. [End Page 17]

Diane DeCillis

Diane DeCillis’s poetry collection, Strings Attached (2014), was honored as a Michigan Notable Book for 2015 and is the winner of the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Award for poetry. She is a finalist for the Forward Indie Fab Book Award for poetry. She’s been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes and Best American Poetry. Her poems and essays have appeared in calyx, Evansville Review, Nimrod International Journal, Connecticut Review, Gastronomica, Rattle, Slipstream, Southern Indiana Review, William and Mary Review, and numerous other journals

...

pdf

Share