The Madhouse

I think I am in hell, therefore I am in hell
—Rimbaud, “Night of Hell”

The walls still bleed
When the night is so hot
And the walls are carved
Like the flesh of an arm
By the passing years
Cruel as I am

(ha, ha)

You can hear the screams of the others
From the adjoining chambers
But really
To be true
It is the screams you cannot
Hear which keep me awake

(ho, ho)

Grim and not too lively
Subtle like the flies ‘round a dead rodent

Christ, that takes me back…

And to think it all started
On that fateful day
On which I was born…

(tee-hee)

Thank God for these rusted bars
As the wind whispers:
“…murder…”

(ha!)

Moneyshot Lapse 

Abigail tosses her head, 
cornsilk hair pale and flowing as buttermilk 
poured from a pail. She, about to go down, 
flashes the camera one last smile, 
assuring the acetate she is, 
for this, up and more than up. 
She knows the look the suckers crave: 
Enthusiasm in the face of depravity, 
eager, with the angriest of pricks, 
to cram her buccal cavity. 
Throws half a heart into the work, 
through her mind her own movie playing 
of re-arranging in her flat the furniture: 
Slide the couch over to the window; 
haul from the hall closet the throw-rug; 
redo the kitchen orange…?
“Hey, Gail!” the director squawks. 
“You’re losing us – keep the eyes open!” 
And so Abigail sprays her heart with gilt, 
sheathing the dagger, suppressing a gag – 
baby-blues on the lens glued – to the hilt, 
performing single-mindedly the job. 

Graceland

Holy shit. Jesus came back.
Yeah, no kidding. He showed up
at Graceland in Memphis.
People started gathering around him
outside the gift shop as he waited
for his tour to begin. God gave me
some time off, Jesus told everyone,
so I came here as fast as I could.
I’ve been an Elvis fan forever –
skinny Elvis, fat Elvis, every kind
of Elvis. Nobody can sing like Elvis –
rock n’ roll, country, gospel . . .
Goddamnit, he was the real King.
That got a round of applause 
from the growing crowd,
but Jesus, always comfortable
talking in public, wasn’t done.
And his movies, he went on,
aren’t they great? I mean, seriously,
all that coded gay stuff in Jailhouse Rock,
the corny songs and dance routines,
and the sixties chicks like Ann-Margret 
and Shelley Fabares. That shit’s awesome.
We watch those all the time up in heaven,
even the crappy ones like Kissin’ Cousins
and Harum Scarum. Jesus stopped then 
for a second to exchange high fives 
with some of those pushing up close to him. 
And the clothes, he continued, if I had worn 
a cool jump suit like Elvis in Las Vegas,
those asshole Roman soldiers who nailed me 
to the cross would have really gambled 
for my clothes. Everybody cracked up at that, 
then Jesus excused himself, hurried over 
to get in line with a bunch of Korean tourists 
for the van ride across the street to the mansion.
The last thing people saw through the window
was Jesus waving goodbye and adjusting his headphones, 
for once now just another humble pilgrim headed for a holy site.

Snob Dogg

I write with the sounds of barking dogs,
screaming babies, and angry, unfulfilled neighbors
fighting in the background.
Occasionally, there will be cats fighting
on the rooftop because life loves to be cliché
like cups of coffee in Paris held by snob hands
who wish they had read
as much as they advertise they have.

I reach half the poem and everything falls quiet,
still, ominous, silent, 
as if a dagger were about to shoot out of the dark
and lodge itself in the back of my head.

From behind me, I hear the sound of my dog
licking its ass, vigorously and unrelenting.

I stop writing and turn
“Goddamn it, will you stop it?!”
and the dog stops.
I turn towards the laptop once again
and the licking resumes even louder.
“GODDAMN IT!”

I bet my dog would love to spend the afternoon
at a Parisian coffee shop, licking its own ass 
for everyone to hear.

Urban Legend

“I don’t know,” Del hesitated,
offered a hit of LSD.
Friday after classes,
the weekend looming.
“They say it causes genetic mutations.
Ten years from now, your wife
might give birth to a kid with gills,
an eye growing out of his forehead,
or webbed feet.” Who knew what?

We all counted on having a family
sometime in the future, but,
what about today?
We were in college! Carpe diem!
“It can’t stay in your body
all that time, can it?”

“You’ve heard of flashbacks?
Stuff stays in your spinal fluid, I’ve heard.
Causes chromosomal abnormalities.”

“‘Chromosomal abnormalities!’” Ricky scoffed.
“Sounds like something you read
in one of those news magazine scare stories.
You with us, Del, or not?”

“Sure,” Del agreed reluctantly, after a pause.
He didn’t have a girlfriend.
None of us did.
“Give me a hit.”

Sure It’s Ok When I Buy The Cascadian Farm Organic Raisin Bran, But When I Bought The Nature’s Path Organic Peanut Butter Panda Puffs, That’s When:

“You’re 54, that cereal is for kids.” 

“But I mix it. So I’m half and half, sweet and bran.”

“It’s just gross.”

“But maybe it’s a metaphor: sometimes you’re peanut butter, creamy and smooth. Sometimes you’re bran, crunchy, and takes time to chew.”

“And sometimes you’re an ass and say stupid things.” 

“You see, that’s what I mean, and…”

“AND I hate the way you smash down your cereal in the bowl, clinking your spoon against the side.”

“I’m introducing the cereal to the oat milk, spreading it around so each piece starts to soften equally.”

And you look at me and shake your head.
Maybe you have words or maybe, really, there is just

surrender. You decide it’s better to leave
the room and turn on the television

and watch The Real Housewives Of Wherever 
bicker. At least none of their husbands

mix cereal, or clink spoons
on the sides of bowls.

horror, adj. inspiring or creating loathing, aversion, etc.

sleaze, adj. contemptibly low, mean, or disreputable

trash, n. literary or artistic material of poor or inferior quality

Welcome to HSTQ: Winter 2021, the curated collection from Horror, Sleaze and Trash!

Featuring poetry by Robert Beveridge, C.L. Liedekev, Niklas Stephenson, Paul Tanner, Clarice Hare, Brian Rihlmann, Dave Cullern, Tia Mitsinikos, Judge Santiago Burdon, Brian Rosenberger, William Taylor Jr., James Diaz, Jon Bennett, Daniel S. Irwin, Mendes Biondo, John Maurer, Donna Dallas, Alexandre Alphonse, Dan Cuddy, David J. Thompson, and David Estringel.

Kindly PayPal 5 USD to arthur.graham.pub@gmail.com, or get your FREE ebook here!

More of the Lovely Miss Foxx HERE

been there done that

“let’s do this
thing, warden,” 
said the death 
row convict 
ready for a shot,
his horrible crime’s ticket
down to a hot vacation,
at least not permanent 
like the Catholics say 
& hopefully not back to
press the button/throw
the switch on another 
or fret black beads
like the prison chaplain
or the warden himself 
numb and bespectacled 
waiting to retire 
or a watching bug on the wall 
or a haunting invisible spirit 
to say nothing 
of that little girl 
in the woods 
made suddenly aware 
that she’d never
be a princess

What’s in a Life

The way he told the story was 
he never had a chance
father left before he turned five
his mother used to hit him 
a lot
almost as much as she hit the pipe
he thinks she hit the pipe more though 

and those are the good memories

he’d tell you what went wrong 
and he’d own every damn bit of it too
‘I fucked it up, sure enough, 
I was so good at blowing up my own life 
it scares me to think 
just how used to it all I got’

word come down that he did himself in last October 
most folks would say they were amazed it took him so long
to reach that bottom, last song, no dancing

I never really saw it that way
yeah, he’d lost more than most of us could bear
but to hear him tell the story 
that was all a part of the magic of this shit life
how what you lose 
makes you appreciate the hell 
out of what you got left 
all the more
and when I had no place to go once 
and he was livin’ outta his car 
hell, he gave me the back seat
and not once did he ask for a single thing in return 

to hear him tell the story though 
that’s just what you’re supposed to do for others in this life
and that oughta count for something
more than all the shit that went wrong 

it oughta be the whole story 

it kinda is.

Short History of Bad Relationships

Caught head lice in Mexico
from my younger brother.
My mother recommended 
pet shampoo, but it didn’t work. 

We took a trip to the ocean:
me riding shotgun, and
my siblings in the back seat. 

For two weeks, I pulled bugs 
from my scalp, flicked
them out the car window
into the highway. My sister helped. 

We were nitpicking.
Going through everything
With a fine-toothed comb.

Had one-night stand in Isla Mujeres
with a drunk frat boy from Texas.
I hope he caught my head lice.
We never spoke again,
so I never found out for sure.

A hurricane hit the island,
and I contracted dysentery.
I lay in my hotel bed, moaning
as the gales roared outside.

Back home in Chicago,
I gave my boyfriend head lice.
I didn’t tell him about 
the asshole from Texas.

My boyfriend was the jealous type
and prone to sudden violence.
He had to get a Kwell prescription
filled at the corner drugstore.

Later that morning I stood in the shower,
washed parasites from my scalp,
and watched nits swirl into the drain.
I didn’t think about the future, 
just the eradication of pests.