JOSH DALE - POEMS

Josh Dale holds a BA in English from Temple University and has been previously published or forthcoming in 48th Street Press, Black Elephant Literary Magazine, SickLit, The Long Island Review, Your One Phone Call, and others. You may find him acquiring paper cuts at his small press, Thirty West Publishing House. By his side binding books, is his production assistant, Daisy, a rescue Bengal.

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​The Theory of Birth

 
Like a baby's skin reacting to oxygen 
for the first time,
we all get spanked on the ass
and hear vibrations from the doctor's mouth
having no idea what's been said
or what is happening.
Sights unfathomable depth perception.
Smells repugnant waft.
Touches intimidating curl.
Tastes apprehensive placenta.
Rich men, poor men, 
minority, majority, 
are all hung by the ankle.
Slab of sirloin, weeping Mother.
We unclose our eyes 
from a natal bliss
and take optical notes 
of the blood and scalpels.
 
And with fluid-filled lungs,
we scream.
 

I Awoke Prostrate in Ketchum, Idaho with Buckshot Tangled in My Beard 
​

​and I was all but delirious when I
witnessed the fleeting ghost of the sailor
hacia el sur.
I swallowed my iron supplements dry
and begun my perpetual first draft.
My brain still ticking, 
my fingers, still picking.