The Other They
Derek thomas Dew
@derekthomasdew

A pink sequence of subway cars. 
Every doubt raised.

They stepped off the train,
the drill bits had already fallen,
the dresses were new,
each citizen dreaming
of a confession
in the form of a twin
shaking their lifeless body.
Abundance cannot be trusted.

They found the townsfolk
had already taken in
the throbbing sequence,
we had already hauled in the fishnets
under a legionnaire’s plume.

There was, as rumored, fire all around us,
so we had our portraits taken in baby blue,
and practiced bowing. Movement meant lies.
But the truth does not love animals. 
It is nickeled by the sheen of our bones.
It makes of us headdresses
for each other’s guilt.  

Anything is easier
than waiting any longer
since something waits for us
in the fire. Will it bow?
How the days are accidents is how. 

Truancy speaks to us all,
but it will not strike a hotel.

the knot
Edward McLaughlin
@lastsundown_poetry

blank eyes watch me wearily

 i cannot escape the knot

sharp mouths twist in the darkness,
drooling

 shadows twist and expire hideously

 i cannot escape the knot

 a labyrinth of shifting caves
throwing me back and forth
i’ve been here before,
but never this way

i cannot escape the knot

countless shadows and thousands of eyes
all focused
all hungry
their mouths are sharp

i’ve been here before,
but never this way