glitterature for the mobs
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REN HLAO
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Picture
Image by Andrea Aidekman
little god; you open
farmland under my feet,, needlewitches: bent and bowing << // dawnsnap sour in the mouth,  forest
to  prison  to  ash ;;  hunching low:  still  on a soilsat stoop in  tarnac / datura hive << life is long even
thinking it  can be  molar  cracking ,,  i  have no  idea where  to put  all  this  violence— little god; you
open  >>  carwreck  sound  //  i  move  like   a   sack;   more  locally   i  am  bonehard  in  your  guts  <<
catatonic,  all anemic  //  i  order  god  :  elder  of  this  new   harshness  waving  from  a  rickshaw  >>
foodstamps  run  out i run  out of  the office  downtown  when  they catch  my lying  / metal detector
hums  is  penetrated  by  my  wet  husk  ..  map  of  stretchmarks  .. streets stretch i’m a bit bent this
livingretch  like a wave  of  raids  like  suction from  thousands of lips  parting the stench << swollen
pores  cleaned   all  sniffling  little  lickings,,  more  locally  i’m  in  a  rabbit  warren  it  is  full  of  soft
moments  //  a  man  shaving  the  legs  of his husband; inside i get dreidel dizzy,, clay, you lay there
so busy—trek tracking—,imprinting the traction  >>  file  the  cops  under  rocks  // city made of hash
the wilderness has been mapped this ferocity of poverty like lines of ants tracking borax to the nest
;; harlequin  fetus  grew  into a divot then set ,,  sink  spits  only brown water ;  garden  plot  does  not
produce ceilings  high and  possessive to  suffer under  ,,  (overpriced restaurant  around  the  corner
needs dead rats) i have faith it is shaken                                                                                                              <>
nothing adoptive
control limbs like bone sucked into a sewermouth    pillage law
oil boils in a bowl of fish then hardens          scalpel made of mineral earth i am
 
a muscled choke you spit like sludgemeat     i feel the knead            buckling to your stigmata
obsession a bored social worker         gnarled and hardened like a dewclaw finds you rabid
 
at the mouth and off   seals you like a border in the sticky flesh of a dewdrop        spoons the curd of life
into your frothmouth  pick up an acorn          peel off the stiff hat    crack it
 
like a mind      starve tapeworm                      rob your blood of its blades    wake up
get cancer        (swallow me hospital) cause harm like a highway     cough life onto the frozen earth
 
like a masturbatory habit                    chant pagan
into clouds of sour furs           i chew teeth that fall from your mouth spit them out they are pale grits
 
for the corner of my red stone plate    when the spirit flees your carcass chew melted rock
i hang an elk pelt from the crooked porchlight like an aqueous cross (christ, mechanist)     i am waving
 
goodbye with a blade  when your eyes open in heaven i hack disease into the universe       the wind
weaving a halo of dead grass through my knotted hair


REN HLAO grew up outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Their work has appeared in online and print publications including Homestead Review, White Stag Publishing, and Dangerous Constellations Journal. They live in San Diego, California with their partner and four dogs.

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