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Darcie Dennigan

from ‘Commander!’

Lice, black boots, corn on the cob, chicken feet pickled, stray cat, stomach ache, pen, pen again 


Better to say stray words than a sentence 
Better an empty sentence than– 


die Zunge      
Sense was nearly upon me 


– I say that as if sense were mounting me! 
If that is the case, it would definitely be from behind 

Cloudy, salt cellar, phlegm, worms 

I was trained as an American method actor 
When all I’ve wanted to be is a German expressionist 

       ● A character, nameless, often grotesque, face powdered into oblivion
       ● Telegram-style monologues
       ● Actors might erupt in sudden passion and attack each other physically
       ● Speech may be rapid, breathless
       ● Gesture and movement urgent and energetic
       ● Actors may move as if something is up their butt

And oh, here’s something up my butt, what is that up my butt? 
Oh, the Commander is up my butt and indeed he is biting it 

He’s not tiny either! He’s tall   Life-sized!
Do I have an extraordinarily capacious petticoat? 
That must be it 

And yet we all know I only ever wear jeans 

Can these so-called “mom jeans” accommodate an entire man in the chassis?

I want to say things to the Commander but instead I will use apocatastasis in a sentence

“I want to apocatastasis my abdomen” 

Can meaning, with a man up your butt, be outrun? 

A much more interesting question is, Shall we have peas for dinner? 

I want to bite this page so hard! 
But where are my dentures? 
For that matter where are my gums? For that matter where is my mouth? For that matter, where is my jaw? Why don’t I know more anatomy? 

Every word means something 
even… “vat”! 
even… “segue”! 
even… “circumference”! 
that word even has cum in the middle, that was unplanned, good day

Or what about carrots for dinner?

author bio
issue eight

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