Are we the last
one standing? Is
there room in
that car? Is that our
blood? There are only
two reasons to be in
these woods and I want
to fuck them

 
 
 
 
 
 
*
 
 
 
 
 
 

I’ll die right after
the first joke, the second
jump-scare. I’ll die all
the way through

 
 
 
 
 
 
*
 
 
 
 
 
 

The flat tire. The distant
window light. The upskirt
with panicked breathing
The empty train car
The cabin porch after hours
of walking. The warehouse
party pitch black. The deserted
whatever

 
 
 
 
 
 
*
 
 
 
 
 
 

To walk away alive, burn
it down. Don’t mind
the frame. Breathe. Burn it
down. Don’t
wait around to scatter ashes

 
 
 
 
 
 
*
 
 
 
 
 
 

All the expected plot
twists assure that we’re
the killer again, the detective
tracking ourselves up
the mountain, into the ghoul
forest, away from the street
lights, out past cell reception
Probably our skirt is torn
the camera angle’s soft
dominance, probably
we’re white as money, we’re
understood as food

 
 
 
 
 
 
*
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cicada synth. Rusted
hinge. Floor creak. Engine
stutter. Steel roof rain
Your own teeth. Your
own heartbeat. Someone
else’s too shallow
breathing. All
the warnings on
a tight loop

 
 
 
 
 
 
*
 
 
 
 
 
 

Are we
still alive? The fault
lines and our
weak punches. Our
savior, transparent
albino-bright, 3-pieced
blue-toothed, buying
out the ground from
underneath
the killer
Bugs Bunny style

 
 
 
 
 
 
*
 
 
 
 
 
 

We’re running through
the fog where space is
a woman where we are
knives cocks sticks axes
hands burst through
the stitches the slits in
light stuck again stuck
like the camera is
a sewing machine

 
 
 
 
 
 
*
 
 
 
 
 
 

You think
the daylight’s different
but bleed the same. A
better shot of the sexy
grave. Tourists
flock around
decorative holes

 
 
—-
 
 

Michael Sikkema is the author of 3 full length collections of poetry, Futuring, January Found (Blazevox Press), and May Apple Deep (Trembling Pillow Press). He’s also written several chapbooks and collaborative chapbooks, most recently Time Missing from Grey Book Press. He is the editor of Shirt Pocket Press. He believes in you and enjoys correspondence at Michael.Sikkema@gmail.com.