Artwork: The Goblin's House by Will Jacques

Thinner
After Stephen King
Kelly Le

The psychiatrist baked
a pie of pills for me.

A slice of puzzlement
concerning my receding hairline:
the mirror, a scale
the hairs shed like pounds.

A slice of hunger
for my receding hairline:
the women’s Rogaine
looks like Cool Whip.

A slice of knowledge
about my receding hairline:
my hair growth rate
matches my fate.

A slice in awe
of my receding hairline:
the scalp shines like the wound
of a decapitated unicorn horn.

I wait for depression’s
knock on the door

to offer a slice.

***************************************************************************


Cemetery Scene
Kelly Le

Stone torches lit
upon sugar-crusted crypts
of cold cement.

Snapped angel-neck
statuettes loomed above.

Draped shrouds of chiseled folds
shift underneath.

***************************************************************************

Rest Industrial Perplex
Kelly Le

Dad sleeps during the day
and wakes at night.
I am tired of explaining why

I mirror these sleep patterns
with no reflection.
Generation to generation

Mom says
live or die already.

She covers her neck at night
from fear of the undead
though it is too late.

Beds are caskets
without siding and a top –
life is a rip off –

without bright days
our dreams pale
as our skin.

Home