Your Mouth Whisper Impossible
Joshua Lillie
You bought radish seeds and we planted them
in the raised garden bed braced by chicken wire
so the javelinas couldn’t reach them when they grew.
After week two, the first cardinal red rose through the soil.
I tricked you by buying radishes from the store and nestling one in
with the others, watched you pull into the driveway
and peak into the soil on your way up the path.
Through the window I saw your eyes widen and your mouth whisper
impossible. After the radishes I stopped at the bookstore
and bought two books.
I placed them in the same bag with the radishes
and the moisture drenched the spines.
I left them on the rocking chair on the porch to dry.
You walked right past them as you came through the door,
holding the radish by the leaves, saying come look,
this can’t be real.
in the raised garden bed braced by chicken wire
so the javelinas couldn’t reach them when they grew.
After week two, the first cardinal red rose through the soil.
I tricked you by buying radishes from the store and nestling one in
with the others, watched you pull into the driveway
and peak into the soil on your way up the path.
Through the window I saw your eyes widen and your mouth whisper
impossible. After the radishes I stopped at the bookstore
and bought two books.
I placed them in the same bag with the radishes
and the moisture drenched the spines.
I left them on the rocking chair on the porch to dry.
You walked right past them as you came through the door,
holding the radish by the leaves, saying come look,
this can’t be real.
Joshua Lillie is a bartender in Tucson, Arizona. He is the author of the chapbook Small Talk Symphony (Finishing Line Press, 2025) and the collection The Outside They Built (Alien Buddha Press, 2025). In 2024, he was a finalist for the Jack McCarthy Book Prize Contest from Write Bloody Publishing. In his free time, he enjoys searching for lizards with his wife and cat.