MUSICAL BLADES

Smiling In Hell

As we inhabit our temporary costumes

Photo by michael schaffler on Unsplash

you wouldn’t play lotto this evening —
one less disappointment to
wake up to in the
morning

your house was already on fire,
no need to pour more fuel on it

you couldn’t speed up the
aging process anymore than
you could slow it down

Fate had you locked in
like a roller-coaster
seat belt

you surveyed the broad
catastrophe of your life
like it was one of
Michelangelo’s Sistine
Chapel Hellscapes

all the people in your life had
either pitchforks, tails, horns,
or cloven hoofs, and you
were always the innocent
ass in the middle, whistling
your way to your own
slaughter

you shout to the four winds
as you trip along towards
Death’s waiting blade —