ZOMBIE by Maeve Ford

Time for a poetic interlude. Allow me a moment of fatherly pride as I post a poem by my daughter. ZOMBIE By Maeve Ford They crawl down the street with their broken feet They moan and groan with that look in their eyes They're hunched over with their arms dangling The creepy crawling bodies persevere even when fallen Their souls ripped from their bodies leaving the hungry demon all alone. Their fingernails withered away Something at your door trying to get in Their hair is missing bits Trying to get away They never make it It's always the same Their blank expressions Chew on the innocent They're missing teeth from their fights in the past life They didn't ask for this It just...happened.

DAWN THE BAPTIST

She sees his head, so rudely removed, under glass in Rome and wonders how hers might look next to it.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET CTHULHU

By then, they had grown immune to the madness he would unleash in them.

THE WEREWOLF'S LAST MEAL

In his haste he devours her whole, even her silver fillings.

IN SEARCH OF THE SKUNK APE: AN EVERGLADES ADVENTURE

"Christ Jesus almighty, all this bag has is cameras. You just brought goddamn cameras?"

GASH VII: THE RETURN OF CARVEFACE

The six previous final girls waited alone in the theater, counting their odds. When the new girl arrived, they finished her off at once.

THE VEGETARIAN

He struggled at first but kept quiet when they asked him to carve the ham. Leaving, he secretly slipped the knife into his bag.

Abandoned Carnival

I float in this tank, still awaiting his rescue. In the darkness, I hear a splash and feel the brush of not flesh, but scales.

SURVIVING PROGRESS

He asks her if she thought they would. She looks at the scene outside their window and says, "No."

File Cabinet

His lips she files under L. On the plastic baggie she uses a sharpie to write "luscious."

Ceremony

It seemed to go well until she sat up and told us, in a different voice, to stop. We couldn't.