The first rule of Fight Club is
             do no harm,
the second is
only on paper. Remember
the rose-colored glasses and semi-charmed life,
the phoenix rising from
                                                      ashes and blood,
the Apis bull worshipped then
             quartered in the village square.

There: I see you red,
            in silhouette,
a background fade to black
and noise,
high ISO with sensor screaming;
          nightmare dreaming
                                                   you’re exposed,
all alone, the darkroom closed.

You’ve always been a fratricide,
forced only child,
                          stag-wild,
Ulysesses-flown cycloptic flag:

              a burnt tree on a beach of fire.

If looks could kill
I’d name your eyes

             Bobby Lee and Hiram marching
loved ones to the woods.

Simon A. Thalmann is a writer and photographer from Kalamazoo, Michigan. His work has appeared in many publications in print and online, including Garfield Lake Review, Gargoyle, Spillway, Verbicide Magazine, Weird Talesand others. His chapbook, Pretty Haunted Meadow, was published in 2020 by the Kalamazoo Friends of Poetry as a winner of the Celery City Chapbook Contest.