R. A. Allen

By Reason of Insanity

by R. A. Allen

After Poe after Gein

Cut the topsoil

and shovel six feet.

This disinterment is

condign justification

for a bedsheet rope

out of Taunton State.

My fingertips

like clawpoints

pierce the parchment

of your once-

wattled neck,

tightening.

My sinews and veins—

an interstate system

connecting the

scab-towns that

adorn my forearms

so vibrantly.

Ah, to dig up

an old friend

after so many

years—my second

greatest pleasure.

“By Reason of Insanity” originally appeared in The Violet Hour in 2016.

Cabin Fever

by R. A. Allen

Why do you stare

at me that way?

Your minatory

reticence a

sullen undertow

of film noir

leaking from

beneath the

door of a room

down the hall.

This formicating

of my scalp makes

me wonder why you

stored the ant poison

in the pantry.

Three days ago

I hid the ax

behind the dryer;

someone moved it.

You've already

taken your pill.

My hands tighten

around a wish

and a plan for

our future.

“Cabin Fever” originally appeared in Illumin in 2014.

R. A. Allen's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in the New York Quarterly, RHINO, B O D Y, The Penn Review, The Los Angeles Review, Cloudbank, The Hollins Critic, and in the anthology Celestial Musings. He has nominations for The Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net 2020. His fiction has been published in The Literary Review, The Barcelona Review, PANK, The Los Angeles Review, and Best American Mystery Stories 2010, among others. He lives in Memphis by the Mississippi. More at https://bodyliterature.com/2020/02/17/r-a-allen/