Tablets
Sensuous reds and yellows
Yielded to my thumbs
As I kneaded open the capsule
And tilted the contents
Onto a glass table.
Skeleton soldiers climbed
Out of the white powder
And dusted themselves down;
They looked so innocent,
And undisciplined.
With swords drawn, they slashed
Indiscriminately like violent
Whirling dervishes -
Spinning to dizzying music
Of escalating footsteps
Tapping impatiently at the glass,
They fell and smashed
In rhapsodies of scaled splinters,
And I was no wiser
As to the nature
Of this substance.
Sensuous reds and yellows
Yielded to my thumbs
As I kneaded open the capsule
And tilted the contents
Onto a glass table.
Skeleton soldiers climbed
Out of the white powder
And dusted themselves down;
They looked so innocent,
And undisciplined.
With swords drawn, they slashed
Indiscriminately like violent
Whirling dervishes -
Spinning to dizzying music
Of escalating footsteps
Tapping impatiently at the glass,
They fell and smashed
In rhapsodies of scaled splinters,
And I was no wiser
As to the nature
Of this substance.
Wires
I twisted my fork in red and blue wires
And chewed raw plastic
Diligently. My mind
Was an unmarked tin
Rolling awkwardly
Through cranial warehouses,
squashed and disfigured
By crescendos of nausea.
I looked to other tables
And saw wholesome connections
In their facial expressions,
And I felt so alone
With my mouthful of wires.
Justin Ehrlich
was born in Essex in 1985 and has a degree in Philosophy. His poetry has been published in DM, Deadman’s Tome, Dark Gothic Resurrected, Gloom Cupboard, Sex and Murder, The Recusant and more. Enjoy more of his work in DM XXXIX La Cour des miracles here.
