IN SITU

In time, she will
learn the mercy
of another mouth.

For now—
pale horse, asleep
among the atomic poppies.

Victim of the artificial
night’s automated rocking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SISTER—]

death’s objective:00000to cohere

crouched in000000000symbiosis

000000noble tendons, swelling

we beg:

loose us0000000000000o lord

by hoof or by howl

000000000from marble edifice

00000000000000000two faces

cleave or are cleaved

0000000000000sigils, synapses

& such rawness,

000000000000000the untender

light-mouths chewing us into

00000000000000000digestible

lacunae00000000000000which

enter or0000000000are entered,

our latchless body

swung000000000000000wide—

000000000from afterbirth rising

perfume of0000000000chlorine

and bile000000000000crude oil

and piss0000000000and orchids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BREACH

Dripping winsome,
the vinegar slit

gapes warlike
in the distance—

my thighs
grip the twine-horse

tight and
beneath, easy

pressure sloughs
his bygone flesh

from his bones,

half-chewed
berries fallen

from a mouth
that knows only

the practiced gash
of laugh.

We ride and ride.

The blood rushes.
The worms swell.

The hive calls
its relentless honey home—

distant the gorge of excess blooms.

The heaves of black crabs waddle, squabble.
They worsen the shores with their incessance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WITHIN THE BREACH]

within00000000000the breach,

the wooden bull

completes the00000000circuit

full  of000000000000000rind:

blood orange, jasmine, turmeric

00000000000mercurial rounds

cauterize my name into

a smoking iamb000000bleating,

beating00000000000000itself

into sweeter0000000000blood

and with no effort

on the part000000of the wearer,

the glistening pearls

cradled00000000000in clavicle

clot into immortality

000000000an accident of belief

beheaded0000000000by desire:

my hands000000000000cooled

in the red river000000000shake

0000000awaiting your hot brow,

soothe0000000a temper so pale

it dissolves into

a sentient haze,0000a baptismal

chord of dirt000000000and cell

that clouds my one good eye

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DARKLY A FILAMENT

0000000Declare melody vacant,
your throat a decanter for ghosts.
0000000In place of invitation,
plunge redding to bell. A name
0000000hummed into dust.
Dormant purrs the stink
0000000of madness, but you know
it was always there,
0000000as a ragged fingernail
always catches on flesh
0000000when there is nothing sharp
nearby to dull the roar.
0000000Anything can be a joke
if you have the biggest teeth.
0000000Berries withering in the heat
of your palm.  Swatting black flies
0000000from the corners of your eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shannon Hozinec lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.