The June Featured Poet is

Christopher Hivner

Please feel free to email Christopher at: hailragnar@verizon.net

IN THE BELLY OF THE ENDLESS SEA

There was only
otherworldly silence
during the descent,
my body suspended
in a beam of sunlight,
a spot          
for the star of the show.
I didn’t flail
or fight,
arms and legs
trailing after my torso
like tentacles.
When my body landed,
the soft silt
mushroomed

and the new darkness
devoured me,
a beast
with a thousand mouths
that pricked my skin
with suckers
and barbed teeth,
searching for their
marker of blood.
Then the monster
forced its salt-water tongue
down my throat,
expanding my lungs
until they burst.

Now I rest
in the belly
of the endless sea,
one more morsel
to sate
the appetite
of the undulating mass
until the moon
entices it ashore,
frothy tendrils
probing for another meal.

MARTHA

Did you hear that, Martha?
It sounded like
a woman screaming.
It came from
across the street.
What was . . .
Something is being dragged
down the road,
don’t you hear
those sounds?
I’m telling you, Martha,
I hear a woman’s voice,
she’s crying
and it’s getting closer,
you must . . .
That was a knock
on our door,
but it’s 3 AM,
who would . . .
Where are you going?
Don’t answer the door!

Now there are two women
screaming,
and I’m bleeding.
Thanks a lot, Martha.

CODEBREAKER

Standing like sentinels,
the trees
protect me,
I hide in their midst,
between thick trunks
and grasping limbs,
their bark against my back
a rough reminder
of their ever-presence
and a warning
that if I mistreat them,
the same woody skin
will flay my flesh
until I collapse
to the ground
where I will be
absorbed into the dirt
under their roots
never to be seen again.
Standing like sentinels,
the trees
send many messages
to man
that are ignored
at our own peril.

Christopher Hivner loves reading and writing but not arithmetic. He wishes he was a fraction as funny as John Cleese or Bill Hicks and enjoys writing haiku. He has recently had work published in Dark Moon Digest, eFantasy, Yellow Mama and Fantastic Horror. He can be visited at www.chrishivner.com