Celluloid Desserts

Alec Kowalczyk

you know the silent picture where the mustachioed villain ties the heroine to the railroad tracks? well, in an early avant-garde production, the hero arrives too late. the villain is apprehended, tried and convicted. he is given the death sentence. but not before he spends considerable time in a hard-core penitentiary. where he is routinely gang-banged by prison guards and convicts alike (including the warden on one occasion to show who was boss). until he is screaming to be allowed to die. at which point the prison system grants his wish. and he is immediately dispatched to a railroad siding. where he is tied securely to the metal rails . . .

long before the train appeared as a spot at the end of the converging tracks. he felt its approach in the gauge of the rails. the speeding locomotive increasing to monstrous proportions as it highballed closer. suddenly switched at the last moment to a parallel siding. coupled to that . . .

the trains were running exceedingly slow that day . . .

Voyeur

Alec Kowalczyk

you currently live on the West Coast

you reside in downtown Santa Monica

4375 Admiralty Drive

in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel

you occupy a suite of rooms

on the uppermost 12th floor

you enjoy a spectacular view

of the beach along the Pacific Ocean

from your spacious bedroom

where at day's end you undress

you slip off your outer garments

purchased from one exclusive shop

on the exclusive Rodeo Drive

you remove your more intimate apparel

the lacey china blue panties

and matching brassiere

you purchased from Famise Corset

and yes

you have an intriguing

constellation of 3 small moles

tantalizingly south of the border

Menagerie

Alec Kowalczyk

sometimes during his sleep

the riot of deadly creatures

tattooed all over his body

would become animate

and roam the confusion of jungle

inked graphically

over every conceivable square inch

of his skin

and he lived in fear

for this was not the handiwork

of a commercial tattoo artist

but a ritual performed by the local witch doctor

in retribution for an indiscretion

with one of the village girls

and everything was fine

so long as he didn't wake up suddenly

as from a nightmare

leaving the out-of-place creatures

stranded away from their customary habitats

when the boa drawn around his throat would constrict . . .

the black widow laced against his wrist would bite . . .

the scorpion below each breast would sting. . . .

Victor Spoyles

Alec Kowalczyk

The man in the shadows

secretively begins adulterating

the contents of food containers

replacing them to the shelves

of randomly selected stores

making people sick

but more importantly for him

leaving no telltale traceable tracks.

Satisfied with this

he moved on to stage two

making people die

with great success

and again most importantly

no traceable tracks.

And so he moved to stage three

the primary objective

and dispatched of his wife

and the killings continued

and then less so

finally petering out.

He liked to think

that a positive by-product

came out of all his actions

public awareness of the intentional

tampering with consumer products

and the advent of safety in packaging

a few lives

to save so many.

Night of the Heater

Alec Kowalczyk

On certain nights

the moment fully charged

6 rapid bursts of light

flash staccato fashion

like silenced heat lightning

illuminating a bedroom

on the uppermost floor

of a 2-story brick house

fronting 67 Dove Street

forever containing and

reshuffling a 12/18/31 event

the killing of Legs Diamond

tangled in bed blanket folds

where he lay sprawled out

sleeping it off alone.

Alec Kowalcyzk is a native of South Troy, New York. Civil engineer by day with an interest in the mechanics of poetry. Published in PIF, Red River Review, CHIZINE, and other sites listed on the Internet.