CALAMITY
in moonlight the land opened open sewage open fermenting buzzing w
innumerable wings devils
wings of diarrhea
winds slop in moonlight [goodbye]
mouths mauled in mutual
tooth tongue amphibian toad discord some one scratching skin in mire
the sound scratching
made wealing
whining writhing sound
reached into vulvas into wax
vexed sound edged wriggled
horde pressed
scrabbled and sneaked and
the throng palpitated
in moonlight throbbing lesion legion the land then
was mere sluice & cyst
luxuriant woods, with which they abounded
? sequester this spot from the world
slobber creature
in mixed light splayed
all directions
/screeching
hurrying graffiti
drips down a heart mine malignancy /what
& not mine
cobwebs on st francis
street dregs of frenzy surge under a store
called cloak & dagger
he is a fucking brat/ but he’s happy
snout wails
moon over-shining
sign repeating OPEN
streetcar CLDRS TMMNCK
GLRD THKL THKL LRK
from OIL SPELL
Claire Marie Stancek is the author of MOUTHS (Noemi Press, 2017). With Lyn Hejinian and Jane Gregory, she is co-editor and co-founder of Nion Editions, a chapbook press. With Daniel Benjamin, she co-edited an anthology of contemporary Australian poetry, Active Aesthetics (Tuumba / Giramondo, 2016). This poem is taken from her second full-length book of poetry, Oil Spell, which is forthcoming from Omnidawn in spring 2018.