ERGOT ALKALOIDS

A poem by JW Summerisle

ERGOT ALKALOIDS

my life is a parasocial experience.

fractcals of something
black, screened purple

by the feedback loop.

amberlynn reid occupies

my absence of need, turns
the shower head on full
speed, dashing the
bathroom with wheat.

girls are much too
clever to fall
out of their prams

but not to check for poison.

girls are much too clever
to fall out of
their prams seeming

sweet but
structuring the work
of all our blame.

hard for stupid
girls to cope when

given such slick
and fragile rope.

can i hold the whole of me?

how hysterical we
women are when

called to justify
the rye and
calculate just how
much we are lost.

how hysterical we women
are and the girls just don’t

know it yet daisy-chaining
the sickened wheat thinking

the grass stems from their feet and
their whole inheritance is the sky.

JW Summerisle lives in the English East Midlands and often appears on TikTok @jw_summerisle . Their first poem appeared in the 2007 Foyles Young Poets pamphlet, and their first chapbook, kinfolk, came out somewhat recently with Black Sunflowers Poetry press.