from FOR THE LIFE OF FREDDIE HERKO

Nicholas Beren

Energy bar with “RX” on the label
I seriously doubt it, otherwise why would
they sell it at the counter

next to the CBD gummies

I've never hated a bed so much

When you say fruit juice
but it sounds like fruit Jews

Scandalous is another kind of word

Receipt

Receipt is also a word

You're crying but my tissue
box is all the way over there

My wife understands

Raise your hand if you
knew I was lying about
having a wife just now

Raise your hand if
your hands are all kinds
of filthy right now

There is a sink in the corner

We didn’t want to tell you about it
We trusted you could sort these things out on your own
We trusted you and clearly you let us down

FIND THE SINK!

If you would only let me explain
There is no sink and we thought
it would be funny to gather all

you filthy people here
to fill you with promises
of a sink

Custom Hans Hofmann swatches:
Yellow bile #3
Handsome blue devil #3
Algorithm that decides your sexual predilections #3
Red flesh red flesh red flesh red flesh #3

We filled you with promises

My final request is a coffin that won’t
leave awkward crease marks on my face

Crying quietly on a city bus

A crime you don’t
want to get away with

I guess I regret that time
I read a book and it made me
smell buttered asshole
as I read the rape scene
or something, I don’t know

I was in high school and I
discussed this experience
in class, true story, bro

I own piss, shit and ass

Try and fuck with me

My father sucked and fucked
That's why I'm a different
person every King's Day and every
day in between each King's Day

My asshole is in pain
This King's Day will be perfect

People hanging from the rafters as they burn

The chief of police makes a statement about the
people hanging from the rafters and the fire that
surrounds them for the immediate future

The local news broadcasts this statement
so it becomes fact and fact becomes history

History becomes what I remember and how I remember
it happening and I remember this tragedy for a day or two
Nicholas Beren is a New Jersey native. His works have appeared in sundry outlets, online and in print. This work is an excerpt frim a chapbook to be self-published this year as a free PDF. You can find him on Twitter @BerenNicholas. He still lives in New Jersey.
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