Bugs

Jack and Andy

Andy had a crawlspace below his skin.
Jack snuck in there masked as kindness.
He felt Jack burrow through his trueness.
Jack’s piss leaked into Andy’s flesh.
He stunk up all Andy’s good.
Andy tried to wipe up the stains that Jack had made.
He could not reach the place that Jack had soiled.
Andy left the mess and went after Jack
Jack wormed away under Andy’s skin.
Andy took a blade.
Slash after slash he cut Jack up into 4,835 pieces.
Jack’s vileness fell all over the floor.
Severed.
Andy covered his nose.

Endgame

Bugs think prey-like thoughts.
There are no words in the thoughts
That belong to the world of bugs.
Andy has learned many words about bugs.
The bugs do not heed Andy’s words.
The words haunt Andy as the bugs prey on him.

Andy is a generous host to the bugs.
They knocked on his door one day.
He let them in.
He did not hear the hidden curse
In their obscure and preying thoughts.

His gut is their playground.
His blood is their bed.
Their offspring are mutants born out of errors bud after bud.
Their hangout is the rawness of Andy
Where games play themselves out in the heat of his life.

The bugs squabble with Andy in
A fierce debate on the threshold of mayhem.
Andy vies for his flesh.
All opening moves are long gone.
Endgame.
Checkmate.

(2014)