Literary Orphans

A Brief History of Every Internet Argument Ever by William James

____by_el_karamelo-d6z90w8

Two freight trains highball at opposite ends

of a long, winding track. They twist around

rusting water towers, dead blackened trees,

rise over steep grades & piles of lumber rotten

from exposure to summer rains.

 

Hurtle through tunnels so long, so dark

they seem to suck the very concept of light

& shadow from the universe. They are angry

lampreys or thick swarms of mosquitoes.

 

Each locomotive moves toward the other at high speed.

 

They show no signs of stopping. One engineer

has plucked out both his eyes from spite. Blood

& water stream down his cheeks. His left hand

is a dry husk, tightened like a skeletal claw

around the throttle. He has bitten his right hand off

at the wrist. The other locomotive’s engineer is drinking

 

heavily from a blue porcelain cup filled with gin.

He knows there is no stopping. He knows they are

going to crash. He reaches in his jacket pocket

& pulls out three gold coins of varying size.

 

He thinks of his children, of the supper

waiting for him at home. Breathes a hot, wet blast

of air onto the coins, polishes each one

until it glistens & shines bright as the sun.

 

He closes his eyes.

 

Slides the throttle forward to full power.

 

Gives a light cough of blood into his sleeve,

wipes a single bead of sweat from his brow.

 

He swallows each coin, gently,

first one, then the next,

then the last.

O Typekey Divider

William James is a poet, punk rocker, and train enthusiast from Manchester, NH. He’s a contributing editor for Drunk In A Midnight Choir, a facilitator with the Slam Free Or Die writing workshop, and a frequent host at the weekly Slam Free Or Die reading in Manchester. Various works have appeared or are forthcoming in SOFTBLOW, the Emerson Review, Atticus Review, Word Riot, and Radius Lit. His debut full-length poetry collection “rebel hearts & restless ghosts” is forthcoming in 2015 from Timber Mouse Publishing.

author photo

O Typekey Divider

–Art by Karamelo

–Art by Mariya Petrova-Existencia

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