Poems by Elena Knox in Shampoo Issue 22

the flag falls
laps blur into

bare facts
blood and bone

touchstones
of nihilistic

circuitry:
dead pets

a brisk succession
of breasts

he won’t
deny he’s lost

the cup but
ask what sticks

from the quick
scrimmage of near

death and
he will tell

with why eyes:
I saw my jockey’s

biceps round
with rein strain

Alimony

because we have fallen out of love
(can’t we kiss oysters and crash cars)
my shell has shakes

and fruitcakes reek
in the backseat, in each speeding nostril,
in a convertible town
where I never knew I was

this is the dole after soup season
the royal shrug
the money left out for a taxi