What Rough Beast | Poem for October 12, 2018

Doug Van Hooser
inflammation red and bruise blue

I want to get in your face
words on my fingertip
jab your chest
where your heart carries on
its lonesome task
your ears waxy
with opinion
myopic eyes
can’t see tomorrow
belief a flood
your tongue paddles whitewater rapids
over the rocks of common sense
always at the door a wolf
everything is a dark cave
rabid bats never question themselves



Doug Van Hooser‘s poetry has appeared in Chariton Review, Split Rock Review, Manhattanville Review, and Poetry Quarterly, among other publications. His fiction can be found in Red Earth Review, Crack the Spine, and Light and Dark. Doug is a playwright active at Three Cat Productions and Chicago Dramatists Theatre.

SUBMIT to What Rough Beast via our SUBMITTABLE site.