[it starts in rage not anger or rancour...]
       

it starts in rage not anger or rancour or a bitch cornered
whose fear-fuelled snarl turns fit nor the politesse of some
pale Ramón screaming

no

more of a jonesing more veins stretched as pig gut
over sphincter-mince more a thumbnail that breaks the
skin to pull a strip or length of rind to find

neither

plasma nor gristle nor bone nor the broken filigree
of nerves but pain that flares and fires like a fusilier gone
AWOL gone PTSD gone B.A.D. motherfucker

a nail-bomb
of rust and froth

by which
one means.

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Copyright © 2018 Ahren Warner All rights reserved
from Hello. Your promise has been extracted
Bloodaxe Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission