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thaw

11/4/2025

In April
She began to thaw
To either live now
Or start to decay

The butterflies came
At the start
To slip on the ice
And then the worms
Emerged
To writhe in the puddles

Being frozen
Was more consistent
Without the mush
And squish
And drip

Across the meadow
Her thaw is observed
From afar
As the sunlight
Cuts through her rigor
To let tiny pieces
Act as one
For just a moment
Before falling apart

down the street

11/4/2025

Down the street
I can smell
your body;
when the wind blows
in a breeze
or a hurricane

Your shutters are closed,
most of the time;
sometimes I think
I see a blue eye
or a marble
peek out
from behind
moldy curtains

Pressing my ear
to the door,
on my daily walk,
I hear a phone ring
when I dial random numbers;
I wonder at the correlation

I leave you a cake
on your doorstep
every birthday;
both yours and mine,
with the wish
you'd come alive again

It disappears eventually,
whether eaten or trashed
I never know,
the raccoons seem to love me

I retreat in my grief,
alone
down the street,
waiting for a new neighbor
to distract me,
in our dead end

potters

11/1/2025

Hours spinning
the perfect shape
I was ready
to go to the kiln

On my way
I dropped it
and stood frozen
over my disaster

"The kiln will close in 10 minutes!"
an automaton shouted.
So I picked up
my misfortune
and made it permanent

At Thanksgiving,
I get asked if I have any
new hobbies
and I decline to answer

monsters have day jobs

10/31/2025

Clutching tufts of hair
And applying stain remover
To his sleeves
You didn’t want to see
What had happened
When you turned away

I had to remind you
That monsters
Had day jobs
And dogs
And bills to pay

I knew a few who were
Employer of the month
And who thanked veterans
Regularly

But they became werewolves
When the sun went down;
Where they roamed your backyard
Looking for things to slaughter
Before they had to get back to work

pickled

10/31/2025

in my capsule
i was foggy
just as i began

watching the video of me
being put under
400 years ago
didn't seem real
until i saw the skull
of the man
who bid me bon voyage

the ship hummed
like a dystopian lullaby;
every face with a warning
"break glass in emergency"

your smirk
seemed to suffice
so i awoke you
to die with me
as we watched
pickled people
with no captain
when they emerged
confused
as to why
we prolonged
their awareness

golem

10/22/2025

I'm carving a Golem.
Made of clay and sticks
and spit
unable to fight me
when I ask it to do work
I don't want
to do

It is frozen in action;
repeating tasks
over and over again
unseen;
wet and grainy,
mired in slime

At night, I shove it away
in a closet
to crack and shatter
little by little
in the darkness

No one notices
not even in the light,
so it doesn't matter
when it falters
and trips,
everyday monsters
go unnoticed
when they walk dogs
and move sofas

torque

10/22/2025

You had more power
over me
the further away you were

You couldn't move me
up close
and then you realized
with each step back
you could twist me
more
and more

You only needed one hand
at 10 feet;
just your ring finger at 100,
easy enough to have time
for a smoke
or an injunction;
but never one to fix
your failing vision

Displays

10/21/2025

In the museum
after hours
I stopped to see the newest exhibit;
a heart in a glass box,
not unlike the one
I owned 20 years ago.

i could hold my breath
longer now
since my lungs took over
the extra space
and I could stare at my loss
for hours,
unmoved

A janitor followed after me,
asking me to leave
because there was
too much
to clean up

The display
plaque
noted the importance
of remembering loss
embalmed
to teach the dead
how remote
they'd always be
on display
for new generations
to forget eventually

rebuilding a prison

9/29/2025

I'm rebuilding a prison
made of concrete-dipped matchsticks
and chewing gum

My bed used to be
over there
in that corner
near the toilet

I measured twice
and line it up
again;
we had to make sure
I suffered

The guards
watched
and scoffed;
they worked construction
on weekends
and knew
the cost of labor
and restraint

The accountant
kept watch
overhead
from a glass office
so we could monitor
his grift;
we're almost done,
ready to start again

stuck polaroid

8/30/2025

I tried to remember
to take as many photos
as possible
so I wouldn't forget
how ruined you were

But each Polaroid
revealed you well-developed,
re-freezing you
in cultural amber

I often shook you,
harder,
hoping you would blur
into a shape I could
dismiss
as an accident

When the image was warped,
you told me to just
throw it away;
so I did, and kept stacking you
frame
by
frame
so I could remember you
animated

When my house burned down,
so did you,
in a shoebox in my closet,
the only thing I saved
was a broken camera,
with broken gears
in a field with no roof

pod bay mishap

8/20/2025

Through the old bay doors
We ran
Ready for battle or feast
In sleek armor
Like Comic-con castoffs
taking selfies in the lobby

When I got to my escape
There was no door to note
or hatch
or keyhole;
so I stood there puzzled;
Unsure of how to enter
A gaping space
Left undone

The wild shrieks of my colleagues
dinned and disappeared
into the void;
I tried to figure out
What to do
To not be
Left behind

The speaker overheard
apologized
to a name that wasn't mine;
and I waited in
fumes,
for a monkey
or a mechanic
to help me find a latch

i took my grief

8/15/2025

I took my grief
on a boat
and it got seasick
and pushed me
overboard to drown

I took my grief
to New York
and it rented
a billboard
in Times Square

I took my grief
to the Grand Canyon
and it hopped on
a donkey to descend
to the bottom

I took my grief
to a dark room
and it
turned on all the lights
so I could see them extinguished again

I took my grief
to the salon
and it requested
a buzz cut
and didn't leave a tip

I took my grief
underground
where it grew
potatoes
that fed no one

After our travels
my grief took me
to review all the photos on a projector
asking me what was my favorite
part

medusas

8/8/2025

What I thought
was a lightning bolt
telling me who you are
was really
my origin story
forging me
into the ground;
less rapture,
more rupture

Like a piece of pottery
kilned too early
morphed into
a grotesque mold
like a misshapen doll
melted on a car dashboard
ready to go

The snakes came next
surprisingly
from me;
you were shocked they grew
so fast;
and I without a comb
or rat to feed them

But it was I frozen
into stone
not you;
you were Perseus
eyeing my head
as a prize
to prove
you finally killed me;
And I, trying to avoid
being evidence
to your hubris

butter

7/27/2025

When I buttered
the bread
it kept tearing;
with each new piece,
I discarded the last mistake
to the birds
until I was left
with an empty cutting board
and crumbs

"It doesn't work,"
I reported.
You should eat it
any
way.
I was told.

With that,
I was given
a brand new knife
to fail again with
and a tub
full of
butter

treading

7/25/2025

I decided to get on the treadmill again
Today
To make
progess
And lose weight
Before
the wedding.

I walked 21 miles before realizing I was
Still in the same place
And exhausted

I stupidly didn’t remember though
That I had placed
Some of our old photos
In frames
Behind the treadmill
For storage

During the “renovations”

Between steps
As the belt moved
Too fast to stay pace with
I was stabbed
With a shard
Of glass
In my calf

It was an accident
out of my control
Of course
Except I put the photos there
And chose to run
without going anywhere

My leg
Lit up
In pain
As I looked back to see your photo
Free of the frame
Smiling at me
Happy
I was hobbled

When I tried to call you
To take me the E.R.
You answered the phone
And pretended to
not know who
I was

Even my good memory was
Splattered in
Blood
now
and your voice
sounded different than before

I hung up
And tried calling again
In case I misdialed
But it was the same result
And you refused to admit
you
Knew me

I wouldn’t make it
To the wedding

I had to get to the hospital instead
Where my wound
Got infected
Despite the best care
And I died
From something
no one else died of

In your belly

7/25/2025

In your belly
I sat for days
wondering if
I irritated you
enough to
regurgitate me

I read books
by candlelight
trying to figure
the way out;
you extinguished
every flame I lit

But everything indicated
I had to leave
the way I got there
if I wanted to remain whole
or swap myself
for a replacement
to sate you
instead

bruises

7/25/2025

In my dating profile
I listed my likes
and dislikes;
we won't be a match
if you voted for a convict
or you believe in imaginary
gods

I like car accidents
and underbaked cupcakes
and tired werewolves
and half-picked locks

In my spare time
I like to push on bruises
to keep them fresh;
you wonder
out loud
if they are yours
or mine

The answer doesn't matter
anymore;
nor
did
it
ever

le savoir

7/25/2025

I knew you once.
How you thought
Or I thought

But I was only peeking out of my left eye.
Trying to pass an eye test that everyone else
Had passed
Like energetic idiots

Those who don’t need intervention
always ace that part
but never understand
why
you can’t see
the letter E as big as your face

If I said enough letters, one would be right
Eventually
But I went through all of them and was told
None
Of those were it.

I thought the stye I had was hindering my vision
At one point
But the doctor told me
I didn’t have a stye
Despite me insisting that I did

My glasses need new lenses.
Or none at all
With frames as strong as peanut brittle
If they got left
Behind
But you could eat the demolition
To pretend it never happened
You knew they had no value when they were
crushed

You criticized me for having cracked frames
once
But ironically
you were the one
who sat on my glasses
in the first place

It’s the 3rd time it’s happened
Which was weird
Because the crack appeared
in the same location
Every time

It made it hard to see
But I kept trying

I saw your wires once
When you didn’t want me to know your secret
But I did
So I kept pretending you were a real boy
With savoir

faena

7/25/2025

Released from my pen
I entered the ring
confused by the mayhem
and the cheers
of my escape

I had grown horns
overnight,
sharpened by you as I slept,
oblivious

You mistook me
stumbling
toward you
as a war that I initiated;
a ray of light
intended to reveal clarity,
blinded me

A boy fell from the
stands, trying to get
our attention;
he died shortly after
he asked you to help him

I kept coming after you
for answers
you kept in your pocket
that you didn't want
the journalists
and judges to see

reduction

7/25/2025

On a scale of 1 to 10
what is your pain?
I wanted to choose 11
but I tapped 1 twice
in hopes someone
would notice
But the nurse just nodded and said
“that’s great”
I was hoping if they put me
under
they’d cut out my heart
instead of leaving it
to rot
But it was still there
aching
under stitches not
meant
for it
In my checkup a
week later
the doctor asked me
how I was

Fine, I said
and left to sit
in my car and cry
As my stitches burst
open
They’d never tell you
how abnormal you are
healing
they just tell you
to come
back
next week
where
boxes get checked
and
no one really
follows
up

about you

7/22/2025

I bet you think this book
about you;
it is, of course, in paper cuts
and fallen trees

I bet you think each draft
was dedicated to you;
that too is correct
in shredded files
and eraser burns

I bet you think
the editors chose you
to laud;
it's true, indeed;
you are worthy of inclusion
in canons of psychopaths
and people you should
never let
babysit
your children
or kittens in cages

semi-ripe avocado

7/2/2025

Unsure of how to cut
an avocado
I went in
with a sharp knife
and hope

This was harder
than I imagined

After cutting for hours
I gave up
and threw away my flesh
and several fingertips
starving again
determined to
get it right
next time

glass-bottom boats

6/29/2025

Filing in to our seats
on the glass-bottom boats
there was an excitement
in the air

Anchor thrown, I left
looking up
with no spectacles
to see

Twenty minutes later
the shark came,
winking at us as it
devoured a seal

This was too realistic
to recommend
again;
none of my photos
turned out

But I went back
the next day
with the same captain
and crew
to watch another
natural evisceration
that no one else
could see
but me

The shark
nudged the glass
yet again
to make another crack
waiting for me to return
again
tomorrow

the rat king

6/29/2025

To kick off
registration
balloons were delivered;
to welcome people
and make them feel
good

In my haste, I grabbed them all,
at once
and they tangled
like
a rat king

At the doctor
next week
I will mention the mess
and he will shrug and tell me
to untwist them;
it wouldn't take long,
especially if I used a scalpel

What he didn't know
was that it was more than a twist;
and popping the balloons
left me with debris
and another year
of trying to undo
something else

extras

3/4/2025

In the movie I’m in
We don’t pay the extras
They cough too much
So we outsource the background
To A.I.;
it’s better that way
I’ve been told

The meet-cute scene
Was just
Me acting
To a tennis ball

You did your work
Separately
To get your paycheck
And be done with it;
I never met you

When the film was released
It seemed
seamless
And everyone thought
We spent our days
On set

Next year
you won
Best Actor
for the person
you portrayed
off
screen

At night
you returned
to your job
at the slaughterhouse
playing with the fat cows
whispering false promises
of their salvation,
charging your bolt gun
in the next room

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