CW: Body horror, Body Image Talk

i: flesh objects 

glacier creep over mountain skin says 

‘there is

something in you s e e p i n g 

to the surface’ 

voice nestled quiet and furtive, 

feline 

at the base of your bodyspine

when flesh objects freeze solid, the 

ice crystals damage the cellular structure

perforate membranes into being 

you are porcine 

bodygod sits in the glass and 

mocks. bodygod sees your 

bodyfraud and lays down 

his wager. 

ii: cleaning boats for money 

lipid cling. curvature of the 

earth at sunset, naked mercurial fame 

streaking 

out across the horizon. none of your 

old gods wore clothes. 

tell tale song says tell tale hips, tell tale hitch, 

tell tale 

switch in your gait. 

berries on a bush, flowering 

cacti. bloom is foreign to 

these parts. barnacles will cut

your hands open if you let them. 

iii: iv drip

bodygod whispers ‘can you 

define tachycardia 

for me’ bodygod 

slips into bed next to 

your bodyfraud. slipshod 

mutiny bare scalped beauty 

chris did a good job cutting 

your hair 

iced over hands on the belly of the 

beast. there is no 

child here. there is only the 

empty tomb of the merchant’s 

daughter. 

iv: everybody hates new england

you are just a leaking helium balloon 

tied to sisyphus’ glottal stop.

you are 

just a molting sea

worm. you are just carbon specks 

down in the dirt you are just a 

stripped magnesium flare 

you are

just

Dylan Sauer is a part-time student and full-time spreadsheet maker; when not engaged with either of the two aforementioned pursuits, they can be found writing, running tabletop games, or cleaning the kitchen for the fifth time this week. Other works in Biological Creatures and forthcoming in Versification.