gloria glau

one likely ending

evil is as big

as a tiny man shaking

his head yes or no

studies suggest this

isn’t all there is this searching

this trying to find

our way back to the

venom coursing through the snake

that once made us who

we are the shriek at

the bottom isn’t the oyster

closing itself shut

but its pearl swallowing the

sea whole over and over

there we will fall there

we were felled we have gone through

so many doomings

we’ve run out of dance

moves and/or last suppers still

born moon ride your wound 

like a god shotgun or not

at all breathe in and hold it.

horror ladies movie warnings*

a woman shoots a puppy in the head, seemingly to test her resolve. a woman cuts off her own finger, we see blood spurting from the wound. a woman's finger is cut off with a cookie cutter. a woman cuts her finger and the wound heals itself. a woman is stabbed with a letter opener. a woman is stabbed in the chest and pulls out the bloody knife. an old woman leaves a pair of safety scissors in the back of a man's neck. nothing too graphic. a woman is kicked down a staircase and hits her head. a woman is gaslit into thinking that her very real concerns are just her imagination and that she is borderline mentally ill. a woman and a man struggle on the floor until the woman impales the man and kills him. a woman is beaten and suffocated with a pillow cover. scary relations to real life stories. a woman is stabbed repeatedly after clawing a man's face. a woman stabs a man in the neck and chest repeatedly, with lots of blood pouring out onto her. a woman stabs a young man in the stomach. a woman jabs a man in the throat with a large pair of gardening shears. a woman is strangled. a woman hears a strange voice in the fog. a woman sees ghosts. a woman suffers an acid attack. a woman shoots a man in the neck. hardships plastic surgeries drugging prostitution screaming thrashing bloodthirsty psychological torture dark insane collecting beer bottles tobacco use chanting chain smoking stepping on nails drowning perils pills overdose stalking amorality manic thoughts it is revealed it was her all along. 

*excerpts and key words taken from the IMDB parental guide page for several movies including, “Thirst” (2009); “Get Out” (2017); “Watcher” (2022); “Sympathy for Lady Veangeance” (2005);  “Made for Love” (2021); “Parasite” (2019); “Greta” (2018); “Helter Skelter” (2012); “Stoker” (2013); “Midnight Lace” (1960).

signs & symptoms

People That Safely Drowned

Paying The Sea’s Debt.

People Trusting Small Deities

Protecting Their Sanctuaries’ Deed.

People Taking Sunlight Down

Perishing To Sabbatical Darkness.

People That Stored Dynamite

Prior To Startling Deer.

People Tailoring Shrouded Daggers

Probing Texture, Sturdiness, Deadliness.

People’s Thoughts Shutting Down,

Praying Through Stammering Dreams:

Please Thoughts, Stay Down. 

autocorrect

muy loneeliness iss

moar thaen lonelly: itt’s shmefull.

wherre yuu thinmk thedse worsds

arre lousy i’mm tryinng nodt

too thinmk hoew theere waqs no one

too proofreadd tehm foer me. 

acquaferma

today on nothing you haven’t seen before

and tomorrow once more less feeling:

you bastards,

you know no one is flying the plane.

down here, the clouds look like seafoam.

down here, we keep the lights on

but that only makes the monsters laugh harder,

their fish bellies grow bigger with hunger.

what happens if no one is flying the plane?

seafoam. nothing you won’t see again

and everything you’ve already forgotten. 

it’s easy to sound preachy when giving the hard facts:

your screen is blue and your eyes itch for the dark.

you wonder how long before the sharks get to them,

before they start smelling the blood,

but they already have. you saw it you can’t stop. seeing it you know it. by heart.

your eyes are dry, your eyes are water

proof of what’s being lost. the charred metal. the melted plastic. the air no longer air.

how smoke can fill a human throat and the lights can be turned off.

the lights are off. sleep is tempting, but please stay with us and keep watching:

the bloated seabed. the red tears. the stiff limbs.

the bodies, not yet bodies, falling out of that falling plane.

the sky disrupted, folded in on itself, cleaning up that

strange color right before smoothing its crease.

then no more sounds you can swallow.

the clock is ticking and sleep is inevitable now,

now nearby planes are smoothly sliding through,

now they’re leaving behind fresh fluffy tails children

point at from the ground jumping, crying out with laughter, 

I could catch them if I wanted to, 

if only I squeezed

my hand hard enough. 

gloria glau is an italian human disaster. she lives in rome, where amidst the crowd of assorted mental illnesses she tries to write poetry and make art.