Spittor / Spittor

by James Coghill

a   r   k   -   d   r   e   g   /
s p a w n   m o n s t e r
t o  the  t u n e  o f  razor   snake
a n d  two-timing  v i r tue  /  derailed
my  maximal  share  of good / uploaded
malfeasance / so lick me, Tarantulas / when
I tadpoled out  like a knock-off Philoctetes            w     h     a     t       /       a     n
y o u   s w i s h e d   y o u r   tasselled            a m p h i b i o u s      m o r a l i t y
p s y c h o p a t h y   /   c l a i med            a n d   p i s s y   aspect  ratio  viewing
m y     s u p e r b l y     t h i c k             this  especial  grand  scheme  / energon
v   e   n   o   m        f   o   r             touched  my  skin  /   itched like  mechanical
scarlatina  /  I  wanted  to  lie  down and  burst /
b u t   w e n t   as   a   knock-off  frog  /  the
f l e s h i e s  t o uching  me  and  failing
heart   first   /   as  I  feast  on  gall /
b o w   a t  the  chapped  throne
of  my spark’s limp agency

JAMES COGHILL is a UK-based poet who writes mainly on conservation and the natural world. He has been published in the anthologies Lives Beyond Us: Poems and Essays on the Film Reality of Animals and Birdbook: Farmland, Heathland, Mountain, Moorland, both Sidekick Books, 2015.