The Many Abilities of an Inch by Lannie Stabile

An inch can whisper
An inch can wail
An inch can call your mother to apologize for that thing you said but didn’t mean
An inch can give participation trophies
An inch can berate genuine effort
An inch can talk-sing like a stuffy phoneticist, but still win a goddamn Oscar
An inch can hum
An inch can tremble
An inch can differentiate between the two, but be scared to death in either case
An inch can click its tongue in utter disappointment
An inch can list faults in order of appearance
Like a crow in gothic tales, an inch can imitate, leading you to believe it is something it is not
An inch can commiserate
An inch can snap, crackle, pop
An inch can go spelunking, and return with that secret you’ve held for 20 years
An inch can recognize patterns of behavior
An inch can also overanalyze
An inch can take a mile, when it’s in a particularly selfish mood
An inch can spark
An inch can fizzle
An inch can be the noisiest space between two people looking for a ruler

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