The men buried beneath my house are all named Neil. There is something in my room, in the corner of my room, behind the television. It has bendable arms & legs. When someone sees the thing in my room the thing in my room gets dirty & the Neils beneath the house bend their arms & legs this way & then that, shaking the house. What one Neil does all the Neils do, until they are exhausted & glad to be done living & the Mayor gives a press conference. Then the Mayor drives his car home & parks his car in the driveway & when he opens the car door all of him, like spoiled milk, spills out of the car.
{TO READ THE REST, PLEASE PURCHASE ISSUE 40.1/2.}
MATHIAS SVALINA is the author of numerous chapbooks and books, including Creation Myths (New Michigan Press, 2007) and Destruction Myth (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2009). He is an editor of Octopus Books, and teaches in universities, community centers, and prisons in Denver.
