Author Archives: Sam Dover

You held me Out digging for fireweed Buckteeth blooming with buckwheat Pastoral fiction Ranch dressing, flannel heading Blue jeans giddying up Belt straining Your knees were dirty You told me you’d been praying Feeding licorice to horses Mixed with medicine Remember me when I was him Or when the sea salt stained my chin Vol-au-ventsContinue reading “Crumbs”

I love you but could these wings fly?Freshly plucked, flesh dry and petrifiedThe sky is burnt marshmallowAnd the southerly blows hard against the swallows Fighting stance looks oddlyLike a mating dance Less than wholeWholy emptyArms are limpShoulders plenty Priceless painStrategic folds of brainOrigami avoidanceI crane my neck to dodgeThe oncoming thesauraus Trauma euphemismsBuild distance fromContinue reading “Plucked”

I dread the animals that are close to me My soul longs for anonymity All my turrets are slurry on the shore Handles rattle on deadlocked doors Core hard with membrane jellied Scales black with my beet red belly My hedgehog depends on the sad song You’re bleating — What went wrong when quills throngedContinue reading “Now Only”

Taking refuge in unfilled potential.A farewell to arms and stencils,We free-hand with blunted pencilsOur crude etchings of the inconsequential. I try to follow the scattered crumbsOf a prior ideation, the WunderkindI was never to become – the youth sensation. Most books are left un-creased,The others in-one-ear and out-on-the-street-Curb your expectations for you won’t beSo enthusedContinue reading “Blunted”

Socks up on the headrest, Bare chests Shining the moonlight; Breathless. Windows fogged, Winter’s clogs Tapping. An enging in the distance Forcing a hasty Rewrapping. I wore your pants Backwards, my shirt formlessly Collapsing Over your small breasts. Your eyes gently batting at this New wakefulness, This wilful entanglement. Realising, you offered to take itContinue reading “Formlessly Collapsing”

Oh mother God, I long for that bosom; For your long hair that once tickled My chubby cheeks, spilling Over me as I fed. I have found many avatars And their candles flicker and fade, Falling in sequence From up along the palisades. Autumn is on the verge with Winter in the wings, Shoulder-blades scarredContinue reading “Autumn Aches”

I still have footage of a bucks party for a marriage that has long-since fallen apart. I was supposed to edit it into a coherent video for the friends and family to gawk at. It was a bright sunny day. The blind-folded, machete-wielding fruit ninja; the henna tattoos, leaving messages for the bride; running throughContinue reading “Buckshot”

The rain crackles on the corrugated roof Like popcorn exploding in the microwave. A great blossoming of gloom shrouded  The patio where we would once sit and toke and sway,Muted occasionally by the evening air traffic. The doleful Digitaria stretched its fingersWide and swarmed our well-neglected lawn.The old grass barely put up a fight,Submitting toContinue reading “The Cats Don’t Come Around”

Back when our hearts had curfews We’d catch them sneaking in, Tell them to be careful out late wandering. It’s no use. They must bruise to grow their arteries, Must come home shattered [WeepingGaspingShaking] As we nurse them back to full capacity; Praying that they will land on their feet, Whether or not it SucksContinue reading “Petulant”