he draws a pinhole
breath, bowling ball sunk
in the sternum. gutter-
bound before the foot
flick. his brain is
all pins and needles
poking the pink ink
in his throat. mouth
a crumbling pyramid. his
teeth a collision of
ghosts. he tries to
think happy thoughts. how
the pinwheel spins in
the summer breeze. and
that reminds him of
his mouth again. a
ten car pileup. his
fat tongue flipped. wheels
spin under the sun.
a hot flash that’ll
melt the spine. a
failed mechanism that coping
- the shrink gave
him four steps. but
when it strikes, her
voice sounds like the
squeal of hoping. his
mouth, a slaughterhouse. watch
the rotten meat plop
off his conveyor belt
tongue. watch him try
to pin down the
anxiety before it swallows
him. boy forgot the
PIN code. locked out
his own head again.
MATTHEW COONAN is a poet and teaching assistant from Long Island, New York. He is a three-time SUNY Oneonta Grand Slam Champion and received the “Best of the Rest” award for his poem “Fish” at CUPSI 2015. His poems are published or forthcoming in The Drunken Violet Review, 35mm Magazine and Inklette. Matthew is also pursuing an MFA in creative writing at Stony Brook University.
Inklette Magazine 