I GORGE ON HUNGER BWAHAHA

You’ll have to excuse my super villain laughter there
I just fantastically hate heroes & want to become
a warehouse devoted to burning down.

You’ll have to excuse my heroes here
they are mostly victims of suicide & wanted to become
absolutely nothing forever.

You’ll have to excuse me burning down warehouses
it's just I gazed into the abyss & it stared back at me
completely in flames, patience without remorse.

You’ll have to forgive my immensely groaning stomach
for I gorge on hunger
& there is no sound to save me save the trill of thrushes nearing.

You’ll have to forgive the garden tilled & the field fallow
for whether intentionally depleted or consciously plucked
the hydrangeas & cayennes are colorless.

You’ll have to forgive my smiling there
you see I’m tremendously inebriated on multiple substances
reassuring myself in intoxicant numerology.

You’ll have to excuse my three years of addiction
I just wanted to become absolutely nothing forever & I miss & I miss.

You’ll have to excuse super villains
when they set warehouses on fire
because the darkness is terrifying.

You’ll have to excuse the darkness for its thick ubiquitous existence
but you know as well as moons it’s possible to every day
wake into something in broad daylight terrifying.

You’ll have to forgive
nothing,
ever.

You’ll have to forgive me eventually
because I’m begging you &
I live as an apology.

From the depths of the rural Midwest, Nicholas Alti is a disabled depressive with trigeminal neuralgia, poor timing, and a sparkly criminal history. He enjoys all things nebulous and anomalous or otherwise bizarre. Recent yowls have found homes at Swamp Ape Review, PULP Literature, Yalobusha Review, Always Crashing, and Puerto del Sol. Nicholas is an assistant editor of poetry and fiction for Black Warrior Review.