by Allister Nelson

“twist and turn at a soc hop like it’s your / grandparent’s malt shop dream, sweet teeth, in me are leaves of / hauntings, and to fall from a sycamore and swing from an oak / is but the path of angels lit on fire with the coming Thanksgiving…”

by Allister Nelson

“We played charades under the moonlight, / letting the small hours pass.”

by Allister Nelson

“You were always the blackened disciple, / so quick to pass over the lambs. / You sought lions and bled them dry, / ripped aorta from tiger-flesh.”

by Allister Nelson

“The gasoline of the night bleeds gold velvet of stars / across the clotted scabs of Nyx’s bower, and from / the breast of night, Heylel ben Shachar, Son of Dawn, rises.”

by Allister Nelson

“Swords rust with blood, but the sheath renews / my girl is a knight of twelve blades, red blue.”

by Allister Nelson

“the great god apollo is dead, florid / blood like smattered roses on the grecian / asphalt, where once delos was flocked / full-circle by kingly swans…”

by Allister Nelson

“They said I should have loved a crane wife, her bleeding / out in snow, onto ivory ice, I would give her my cloak and / she would be the female Christ…”

by Allister Nelson

“…throw the wolves your prayers, and perhaps / I will grant you mercy.”

by Allister Nelson

“Did you get everything you wanted, Briar Rose? Two / suckling babes at your breast, a blind prince who / found his sight again in your roses…”

by Allister Nelson

“I held a serpent in my hands. White foil scales that reflected the stars. He had wings and a crown, albino peacock feathers and gilt gold, and there were chains at my feet.”

by Allister Nelson

“Mess smiles with burning teeth and a mouthful of violent violets. ‘Father will not like that, which means I think it’s a wonderful plan.’”

by Allister Nelson

“I sampled his tissue on dishes / Performed counts on cells hidden within…”

by Allister Nelson

“The harvest came late this year, tilling / bones in soil like spare ribs from a dragon.”

by Allister Nelson

“Olympians are just, the women they / desire are pure, they don’t fuck in dirt…”

by Allister Nelson

“Mr. Crowley bends, oh he bends as he pleases! / Into white moonshine steed for Lady Godiva to ride.”

by Allister Nelson

“I had me an old lungbird that / sang deep down in the mines.”

by Allister Nelson

“In blooming blush and noontide wine, shaking / vines for their juices, the serpent divine snakes / her way through the city streets…”

by Allister Nelson

“The brain rattles, the floorboards weep with blood...”

by Allister Nelson

“The fucks last for stratospheres – planes land, touch down, feathers on the ash tray, and his seed is a river through me.”

by Allister Nelson

“When you see Her you will die,” / Michael whispers in my ear, puts his / peacock hands over my eyes…”