SPORK PRESS
sporklet 10

Danika Stegeman LeMay


from We Are LOST

{S01E14: Special}

 

We’re not home. [shot of something that looks
like the arctic, polar bear] We’re here. Every day

 

bits of me are crumbling. [entering] You emerge from
the bushes looking awful. You can hold on if you want,

 

but ask yourself why you’re doing that. [looking up
at the trees] Let’s build a raft. We’ve got an axe

 

and a whole bunch of trees/bamboo. We can do this. 
[shouting] You know I’ve always wanted to live on a boat.

 

Separate the cushions, the plastic, the tarp. [spreading
maps] Put everything you find in different piles

 

so we can take stock. [shot of a hand putting a knife
into a hand] This is us taking control of our destiny. 

 


 

 

{S01E15: Homecoming}

 

Matter comes in from the water. The ocean collects
all sorts of garbage: straw, headphones, buttons,

 

all the bones. How we amass information never ceases
to amaze me. VOICE: Combine the benefits of capture

 

with instant delivery. Shot of cloudy sky. We stand
in a clearing in the rain waiting for memory to reset. 

 

We approach collapse now carrying sleep in our arms. 
VOICE: Everything’s normal. It is possible for amnesia

 

to infiltrate us. What do you think happens after the sun
sets? No tree-shaking, no blood insanity. It’s quite beautiful

 

really. VOICE: You’re safe. A wire is tripped. I feel the loss
of holding on to nothing. The rain has stopped. It’s daylight.


 

 

{S01E16: Outlaws}

 

We hear the whispers. Son of a bitch. This is going to end
with you and me running through the jungle screaming

 

and crying. You’re all like shell-shocked. You say “I never”
and then you never finish the sentence. I never steal. I never

 

went to Disneyland. Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. So
we’re in hell, huh? Pardon me if I’m fresh out of feeling. 

 

I never been in love. I never wore pink, even in the 80’s. 
We look around and see everything is destroyed. Take comfort.

 

Someday this is all going to be a real nice shopping complex. 
Maybe even an auto mall. The whispers again: I’m not the one

 

trembling, sweetness. Don’t make a sound. I never suffer. I never
disappear. If you'll excuse me, I've got some revenge to tend to.


 

 

{S01E18: Numbers}

 

We hold a bunch of bamboo together, rebuilding
without intent to burn. No one is even looking for us. 

 

There’s nothing to do but listen to static night after
night.  Long wave transmissions. Lyric equations.

 

Dark territory. I take off your blindfold. I touch your face.
Don’t look at me like that. All I’m asking for is escape.

 

You’re looking for a trap that doesn’t exist. I think the plane
crash might have been my fault. Well that would be kind of

 

a mellow way of describing it. You make a sawing motion. 
I just told you my biggest secret. I thought you might want to

 

reciprocate. We see smoke pouring like a bridge collapsing
in the woods. Hold the bamboo tighter. It’s coming.


Danika Stegeman LeMay lives in Minneapolis and works at Frontrunner Screen Printing with her husband. She has an MFA in creative writing from George Mason University. Her work has appeared in Alice Blue Review, Cimarron Review, CutBank Literary Journal, Denver Quarterly, Forklift, OH, Juked, Lo-Ball, NOÖ Journal, Poetry City, USA, and Word for/ Word, among other places.