On The Curb

detritus

By Harper Lewis Published about a month ago • Updated about a month ago • 1 min read

Nine words cut me open,

dumped my guts in the street

with empty cans, blunt roaches,

and the rest of the garbage,

six days prior to pick-up.

Dew falls, bacteria grow,

rot festers, fecund

as a swamp, neglected

as a vacant lot, undervalued

as a short sale

on a second mortgage.

Cars drive past,

spewing mud

from their whitewalls,

ignoring all of it.

Ekke Ekke Ekke Ekke Ptang Zoo Boing!

Intrusive rhyme bothers me, except as a weapon.

Intertextuality is my passion.

Formalist/ New Critical are my guiding theories.

My words are mine, not a robot’s.

MA English literature, CofC

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