Reading: Extremities by Kathe Koja (recent short
story collection by one of contemporary horror's finest
writers), Dark Sleeper by Jeffrey Barlough (as if
Charles Dickens had decided to try a Lovecraftian
pastiche), Doctor of Silence by Robert Kelly (stories
by a much overlooked poet), The Devil's Church and Other
Stories by Machado de Assis (top Brazilian writer of the
fin de siecle), & (rereading) Moderan by David R Bunch
(which, though aimed at the Vietnam War, loses nothing of its
outrageous punch even today).

In order to write, i devise a Phantasmagoric
Transmogrification of everything around me;
cars, for example, become "Yaldabeests"--large
spiders that are ridden.

The burglar stole $16 in change--& climbed right
past a $250 book on display.

   "The Brights"

Now the hard road lengthens:
Return, between bad tires & the scarred road, lengthens.

A wonderful dream happens to someone else
Beyond; & the barred road lengthens.

"Truth is both dogmatic and intolerant"
Says a sign, & the marred road lengthens.

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