"ILL HEALTH HAS BECOME THE BADGE OF AESTHETIC PRINCIPLE.": DISCUSS.

1. The creature opens its eyes. Grunts. Coughs. Flinches
    Under empty morning light. In its mind it's
    Already describing. Its private
    Air is full of teeth.

2. The grey flower, the cigarette burn on the postcard, these are things
    I love. They identify themselves
    To me as relatives, as fellow blisters, as refugees from Barbie's Dream Home.

3. That was the year he started throwing up at parties. Then he
    Was tired all the time, and cold sweat clung to him
    "Like an icecube enema" he said, his brilliant voice a whisper you had to
    Almost enter to hear. Nobody wanted to get that close. He stank like the grave.
    That was the year he was most beautiful.

4. Describe the brown sky, the dead grass, the human turd
    You saw beside the railroad tracks, in terms your mother
    Wouldn't mind: I dare you.

5. Lived another day. Lights all turned off. Words
    Poke its brain like pitchforks. The creature
    Pretends they'll turn into dreams, closes its eyes.

Charles Ardinger
Huntington Beach CA