What Rough Beast | 11 02 20 | Chad Parenteau

Chad Parenteau
Patient Nero

Lick flames
fan flickers.

Why fiddle with self
when others can join.

Mother whore not complex.
There’s a line for both.

World’s best actor
needs supporting cast.

None who jump in
dare call it pit.

How can one burn
if all play along?

—Submitted on 11/01/2020

Chad Parenteau is the author of The Collapsed Bookshelf (Tell-Tale Chapbooks, 2020) and Patron Emeritus (FootHills Publishing, 2013). His poems have appeared in Résonancee, Queen Mob’s Tea-House, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, Off The Coast, and other journals. Parenteau is a regular contributor to Headline Poetry & Press as well as associate editor of Oddball Magazine. Online at chadparenteaupoetforhire.com.

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