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"subtitles"
by Barton Smock

the birth

blind

boy      at the keyhole.

     each rail yard
     child
          finds a stick.

son
of a sailor.

     sea chained. that

note of hunger singing salt to a tomato your wife waking you in the night with your own

lips      the desperate wave

     lapping

          the topmost step

               of the spiral. in mexico

a one speed fan

fans

the heaving chest of a banshee. your mother

without a shirt. tracks that end

at tunnels      a lighthouse

     with a rope

     spine.

the misshapen

horn

     of your ear. the white

tipped

fingers      grazing the yellow

bandaged

road      tracing

the land of its blood

     to the dagger

     absent

     sheath.

Barton Smock is 30 years old, has 3 kids, 2 jobs, and 1 wife. He believes in marriage, cold winds, and Ohio.