Condition Stable

 

If I toss my teeth into the sewage

lightbulb your fist

of yellow glass

if flies maggot the meat toilet

a swarm of fingernails

blacks out the sun and breaks its kneecaps

I will purchase an electric infant

 

if the stone is red

your thumb has been eaten by a goat

I grind our fingers

to a torch

if the priest opens his mouth

in underwater caves

if the next tree is hollowed out

crop of tongues hung to dry

if the dog barks backwards into a grave

 

I have eaten wax and the floods

take me

maggots rise to the lake

if we slice off the top of every mountain

the road bends toward sunlight

a moon chews my face

if a seagull swallows a forest

on every rooftop we will carve

our names in our mother

unhinge your jaw and dig

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facts about the Train

 

Every afternoon

frogs will be boiled

at twelve o’clock     Touching

 

is prohibited     with the exception

 

of eggs     The soup cart

will not deliver during moon hour

 

for fear of searing

Searing is prohibited

 

Apples cost a nickel

and a bushel

 

Nickels are free

 

Bushels cost a dollar

and an apple

 

If you find the bullet

please return it

to the clown’s mouth

 

where it can properly

transubstantiate

 

Fire exits can be found

in the flames

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hospitality Mandates for the Modern Host

 

Fill a bowl with vodka

for your guests

to sanitize their feet

 

upon entering

swallow

seven red pills and a penny

 

to stay warm

cram a horse

into the furnace     toss mice

 

through a ring

hanging from the ceiling     fall

and weep

 

every fifteen minutes     rub sage

under your eyelids     slice

the cushions

 

pull out the stuffing

from between your ears     shine a spotlight

on the worms

 

beneath your toenails

 

 

 

 

 

 

DEREK ANNIS is a poet from Spokane, Washington. He holds an MFA from Eastern Washington University, and his work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Gettysburg Review, Missouri Review: Poem of the Week, The Colorado Review, The Account, Crab Creek Review, and Fugue, among others.