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CIRCLE OF FRANKS

ZACH ARNETT

These hearts that beat slick new blood 

sell their boats and guns in the penny saver

 

wink wink nod nod love and kisses 

on your pretty pink parts 

 

if you don't know what's in the mail 

lay your neck out   

 

death makes back interest on us 

at the center of everything that's good 

 

get out of arrears with your holy something

is my advice  

 

once I, for instance, turned the Jesus  thirty three 

I decided to be an exceptional Male 

 

and maximize my calorie burning potential 

I outran a bad diet 

 

I trained to jump through candy glass 

I quit raising hell with a weight bench

 

a rifle safe 

tire swing sucked around my belly

 

the whole time  

eighty two grams in my hands

 

the whole time 

a dickey a cheat holster

 

the whole time 

a fourteen inch K bar knife 

 

aged into my chest

so you could canoe my breast 

 

and scream the sound

my amends make back into the hole 

 

I’ve told you them before  

but they since left me    

 

so I’m coming back around  

with word on what's good  

 

like it's brand new all over.

Zach Arnett was educated at Ball State University. His poems can be found in Red Ogre Review, Bending Genres, The Meadowlark Review, Stone of Madness and elsewhere. He works at the library.

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