Poetry by David Hanlon

                          ​Jaroslav A. Polák CC


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Hug your Pain

Through love all pain will turn to medicine – The Midnight Gospel

Take it, this devil-horned hater,
this indecorous third,
fourth, fifth, sixth eye,
sharpened to witness 
their box cutter stares.

Take it, this silencer,
this testicular teratoma,
this teeth, hair: muscle mayhem,
penning you into the void,
in all its unwieldy ferocity:
bludgeon it with love.

Cup it, this core-
shredding nightmare,
this wriggling, snake hiss
trauma in the mirror.

Feel it, diamond-tough
bitterness, crumble:
ashes flaking
through your fingers.

Embosom it, this
obdurate boulder,
this lifetime throttle,
with all your will and compassion:
feel it shrink, feel it dilute,

See it, your pain,
your isolator,
your dogged sadist,
reflected.

See you bigger
than that stone world
that terrified you
from the start.
​

David Hanlon is a welsh poet living in Cardiff. He is a Best of the Net nominee. You can find his work online in over 40 magazines, including Rust & Moth, Icefloe Press & Feral Journal. His first chapbook, Spectrum of Flight is available for purchase now at Animal Heart Press.

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