Six of Swords

†
by J †Johnson

The boatman crosses his fare, whose crossing
appears barred. So the floating prison
advances, while his staff pierces the crust
below the current. He is punching their way
through, teasing the surface. 1 is glass & 1 is
soot & 1 is hardly there. Staff connects sky,
land, vessel, body & bed. All are upended.

J †Johnson (they/them) is the author of Trouble Songs: A Musicological Poetics (punctum books, 2018), and a poetry collection, The Book / Or / The Woods (punctum books, 2021). They live in Philadelphia, where they co-edit the horror poetics circular Cul-de-sac of Blood.