Lost Pepper, Roots of Evil

Lost Pepper

While clawing at the ground,

I think I uncovered history. As others

were digging up bones,

I discovered a miniature bottle

of Tabasco sauce

and a rusty blade.

My brother, the expert, says it’s a piece of crap,

but it cuts. The tiny bottle

makes his mouth water.

He covets the burn—lost pepper, vinegar,

salt in a wound—

sustained in sediment.

I wonder how long it has aged,

savor the burn.

-

Roots of Evil

Picking out parsnips and turnips,

I decide to surprise you 

with extra beets.

I know how their sweet blood pleases you.

When it drips from your lips,

I realize how ironic it is for a vampire

to be vegan.

You wipe some juice away, 

and I pretend not to notice.

You suffered through two root

canals so your hallowed fangs 

would not show.

This is how you cancel your past.

But if I 

discover a coffin in the cellar,

or find you sleeping while

hanging upside down from the ceiling,

I will regret not buying 

garlic cloves or 

rainbow carrots instead.

-

"Lost Pepper" and "Roots of Evil" were published in Issue 12 (Fall 2015) of local Dayton journal Mock Turtle Zine. 

Past issues of Mock Turtle can be viewed online.

Eric

Educational Services, East Campus, Room 6

A shark with a broken tail

hangs from the ceiling

next to the crab with only one claw.

The students are also broken—

some have twisted bodies

and shuffle sideways

through life's narrow hallways;

others are like the shark

that will bite but cannot swim.

Teachers are torn

like chum in the open sea,

so children can feed.

Some are food for others,
bones discarded, unwanted.

Few survive unscarred.

-

"Educational Services, East Campus, Room 6," along with "Not Quite Emo," is included in Issue 9 (Spring 2014) of Mock Turtle Zine. These constitute my fifth contribution to this local Dayton journal.

My poem "The Little Nun that Could" (which is included in my chapbook The Good Parts (forthcoming from Finishing Line Press)), is in Issue 8 (Fall 2013) and "All of a Sudden, but Not" was published in the Spring 2013 issue (#7).  In addition, "Beware of Poet" and "An Ubi Sunt for the Bees" appeared in the Fall 2012 issue (#6) of Mock Turtle. "An Ubi Sunt for the Bees" was originally included in issue #5.

Issues of Mock Turtle (including issues #5, #6, #7, #8, and #9) can be viewed online.

Eric