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Poetry by Alex Osman

A Young Person’s Guide to Drowning

This is the site where he drowned
Where geriatric paranoia manifested
Where childhood boogeymen lurked under rafts
Divers’ capillaries were jade
Underwater barber shop quartet members sang with algae in follicles
Where the whites of eyes were made known
Distance grew an extra inch
Forgotten fishing hooks punctured unsuspecting legs
Teenage lust ran rampant
Where his lungs caught fire
Grisly mono-endings were disposed
Where revival attempts were made by an assumed TV infatuation
This is the site where he drowned

Cholame

I can’t help but rubberneck
On the day of the amputation
Dual rear wheels generating friction
Second-degree asphalt scarring
Reminiscent of an infant exaggeration
Hyphema like pre-slaughter cattle
Chain-link skin graft souvenirs
Visions of Camelot on cortex security tape
Narcosis fuelled the engine of a James Dean dream

The Mechanics of Parasitic Mimicry

Irritable spectators brawl like pinball
Recycling oxygen from lung implants
The Surgeon General retired his Sunday shackles for a right-eye shiner
Ants! Ants! Ants!
Ants live in the esophagus
He sugarcoats the unfortunate with glucose lies
Antennas transmit pheromones to the fiending spectators

Alex Osman

IG: @magkneesiumm

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