those vital sores
on which you bite down:

a whirr of
shimmering
unpleasure.

while a carousel
flings riders,

my heart
is an organ
that grinds
and
grinds,

twisted

by
a
handle.

were it music
that poured
from
it,

the monkey
could collect
coin

from its
twitchings,

could refuse
in his cup

drops
of blood
that clank
like bent nails,

that are the same as the glue
riveting your sweat to any skin

and drying
my rusty back
to your bed.

Livio Farallo is co-editor of Slipstream and Professor of Biology at Niagara County Community College. His work has appeared or, is forthcoming, in Helix, Rabid Oak, Landfill, Beatnik Cowboy, Rise Up, Old Pal, Ginosko, and others. His collection “Dead Calls and Walk-Ins” chronicles his job as a taxi driver some centuries ago.