Gayle

Dani Otnes Aurouze

Her Arkansas twang crushed sarcasm like an empty
She would poke and chain smoke
The coffee table a mezzanine for expired Cosmopolitans and People
With butts erupting from her Disney souvenir ashtray
She got a kick out of exposing her third nipple to y’all
So limber, she chewed her toenails
I met her on the fertile plains around “Midnight at the Oasis,” studded with studs 
Our innocence etched in the dunes like snow angels.
The surprise, she kept her baby. I aborted mine.

Dani Otnes Aurouze’s first creative nonfiction piece is coming out in the Autumn 2025 edition of The Brussels Review. At age 70, she lives in Southern California, where she is living her best retirement life, in search of love and gratitude.