AJ Davis

Marriage

The poor son-of-a-bitch
slept next to his wife’s corpse
for three days before
her family finally caught on
that something strange was going on
and called the police.

According to her mom,
the son-of-a-bitch kept telling
the family she was sick in bed
or smoking cigarettes and wanted
to be left alone.

Investigators have cleared him
of any possible involvement in
her heart attack, but
he was arrested for concealing a death
which I guess makes sense but
I keep wondering why a man
would spoon a corpse

if not for something heart-wrenching
or twisted
or maybe
a little bit of both.




Trout

When my parents told me
my grandfather shot himself in the head,
I immediately pictured a giant boot
stomping on an apple.

The boom and the splatter.

I eventually learned that he did it
by first taking off his shirt
and laying out a heavy camping blanket
on the carpet, which was all that was
separating him from the concrete.

He then tipped his head back against the ground
and you can imagine the rest.

When I was a kid
my grandfather
used to take me fishing on the Rio Grande.
Despite the inherent brutality of it all,
he was always careful
not to make a mess
with the worm bait or fish guts.

He frequently washed his hands
in the river
and never tracked mud into the truck

whether he was driving home to Albuquerque
or up to heaven with the trout.


AJ Davis is a vegan cook and perpetual student. He grew up in Las Vegas, where he was first exposed to magic and illusion. AJ carried his appreciation for chicanery to the page and graduated with a degree in creative writing. When he isn’t writing poems or searching for fresh basil in the recesses of his refrigerator, AJ can often be found engaging in his favorite vice: drinking cold Dr. Pepper.

Current Issue:
August 2013

AJ Davis
James H. Duncan
Anthony Liccione
Christina Rau
Ron Riekki
Jason Sturner
Patricia Wellingham-Jones

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