DISCIPLES

by Peter Coe Verbica


21 needles:
like blackjack on the table,

and I was
dead asleep

when the acupuncturist
touched my shoulder
with a shaking hand.

“You’re levitating,”
she whispered,

her face as pale
as Spanish plaster. 

I explained
it was just
an old parlor trick —

where you sit
on your knees
under a sheet.

She hurried to the door —
slipped out
to give me some privacy.

I didn’t have

the heart
to tell her

that the apotheosis
she had seen
was real.

With AI and rockets
which land their ass
on a small dot,

this isn’t the time
for an old shaman

to begin picking up
disciples.





Peter Coe Verbica grew up on Rancho San Felipe, a cattle ranch in Northern California. He earned his BA in English from Santa Clara University, a JD from Santa Clara University School of Law, and an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology..