HATCH AND FEED

It all goes sour. Then sweet.

A smell of gimps, ghost bones and impotence. Nails scraping against the blossoms.

There are eyes on your fist. And your shoulders. Windows filled with pastries. Why do I hurt all over? Children with hoods pulled over their heads.

It’s all used, you whisper. A pair of koi nibbling at my toes.

A crisp beautiful moaning.

An eye contorted to a blur.

A grey swollen tick.

Poems first published in A SLOW BOILING BEACH by Rauan Klassnik, 2019.
Artwork by Louie Otesanek.

Rauan Klassnik is the author of Holy Land and The Moon’s Jaw (both from Black Ocean) as well as Sky Rat from Spork. He lives close to Costco.

Louie Otesanek is a painter based in Reykjavik, Iceland. The cover and frontispiece of A SLOW BOILING BEACH are details from his work.