Feasting at the Table of the Damned Quotes

“she whispers into my truculence
and I succumb to that thing called faith
that blind old hag who left her brothers and sisters
under the overpass

she strokes her way into my soul
a divining rod slips from the heavens
a greasy old senior citizen
with stale coffee breath
and a proverb for any situation

she recounts the transgressions from a lifetime ago
with a glassine vision
the images move in a circular sway,
dashing from light to dark
truisms to falsehoods

this is a woman, my friend,
with whom you can ride the river
and gaze at the mountain

this is a woman
with a heart fired by the very furnace of Hell
yet beats with the sonnets of God”
― Daniel Ames, Feasting at the Table of the Damned

“the squirrels don't eat them because
underripe peppers are much hotter
mild only at the end of the growing season

occasionally, you'll see one with little bite marks
where an inexperienced scavenger thought
he'd hit the jackpot

you've got marks like those
where someone thought they could
take a bite

but when their mouths caught fire
they understood
they weren't ready for you”
― Daniel Ames, Feasting at the Table of the Damned