1/3/19

TRACKING THE QUADNUCK
By John Grey


Open up in the name of a full tank of crystal.
Rat-a-tat on the door with a bucket of Aelopean brew
and interstellar radio loaded with
honkytonk angels from beyond the milky way.
No use trying to run away.
We’ve got weapons that can take out
your scutum from ten thousand paces.
And they’re silent as a sagittian moon.
You won’t know what hit you
and nor will the rest of the herd.

Of course, we’ll send out our two-headed blood terriers
to drag back your carcass.
It’s what they’re bred to do.
And later, of course, we’ll toss them a leg or two.
No big deal. You’ve got at least eight.

Quadnuck, it’s all over. Your time has come.
So sayeth some guys in rugged Levi space suits
flannel steel shirts, and tight sleeveless cosmic parkas.
And don’t forget our space helmets
with their Mac’s Hardware emporium logo.

Forget the high-legged prop and kick,
the escape into the underbrush.
Our lights hypnotize.
You'll do what we say.
Our language is death.
The accent is Earth if you must know.


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John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in the Homestead Review, Harpur Palate and Columbia Review with work upcoming in the Roanoke Review, the Hawaii Review and North Dakota Quarterly.