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Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Joshua Martin Ensorcelled In Mad Mandibles, Stopgap Mansions, A Removed Cowlick, Panther Strikes, Pig's Feet, And Spasms Galore

Cannibal sun


Cannibal sun

     look! look! look!

an oil rig

     a sheet of disasters

               spreading

stammering verse until

greener earthquakes ensue


          mad mandible

          maverick staircase

                    stains

            &             all the

       other catastrophic

                               mementoes


once a laser thin operation

     away! away! away!

          an army of

          medieval mummified

          remnants

the size of a carpet sample


            awake to invoke

            stadium seating

                      visible snake charming

                      folding under like a shirt


in limping tattoo

overpass of a

highway

           skull lessened

                grouped together

                according to

                guttural sounds

      dropping                    a

                            droplet

never made sock puppets

into heroes

         or stakes

         into ornaments

    or                          brides into

fathomless                               lashes

brimming to fill

                       stopgap mansions


then through storms

beach covered speedo

skipping to beating

tornado puddle

                     saddled w/

                            debt trampolines


         forthcoming dimensions

         spear themselves

                                 soiled enough to be

                                             refuse

                                                  wasteful in


    diameter

speeches                yonder                     wonder

                  taken                 as a

                     given                   as                      a

raging

              crumb



worm kissed


worm kissed scrawny tongue

and collapse beside a stove


w/o pipes a grimace shivers

the flight it takes to sign a membership


          last enhance

          against a fence

          posted chalkboard

          headless promenade


                      whether running

                       in place of division

                       intervention could

                       spell constant

                       foiled zone of

                       multiplied rejection

                       mattered less than

                       horizontal symbols

                       used to spell

                       a dear john letter

                       pasted to an

                       apple core


then this did

to an unto to

an enormous hawk

wingless as contrarian delight

famous injunction

against a train conductor

of the spirit engulfing

cowardice like a stone

unturned


to be the cowlick

once removed

                                      fatty fatty fatty

                     advanced state

                                           of disrepair


decomposing teeth

to meet a formal dress


                         a tire attired

                         in the latest

                                membrane

                monstrosity


clever enough to will a motorcycle

to sleep

          for a limb is a cellular

                                   mishap 

          for a branch snapped

                                    a diamond


                                                  full title

                                                  left un-

                                        observable



spasms galore


spasms galore

          gunk


sinking ships masterful

zoned out to a zonk!


buried enough spare feathers

to contemplate a swing set

through letterbox deception

the panther strikes at

                         midnight


help! there’s

                a

        GOETHE in my

                   SOUP! &

i don’t know

what to do about it!


the healing power of

sulking                  the dripping

         perfume of

pig’s feet &

                 for the cost of

    a corner

                    you could

get a dime


                       for the sake of a

             priest                  you could

get              a

                             disease


Joshua Martin is a Philadelphia based writer and filmmaker, who currently works in a library. He is the author of the book Vagabond fragments of a hole (Schism Neuronics). He has had pieces previously published in Prolit, E-ratio, Nauseated Drive, Fixator Press, The Vital Sparks, and Breakwater Review among others. Check out Joshua's blog at https://joshuamartinwriting.blogspot.com/