Stuff in the Corners of My Mouth by William Hurst

Stuff in the Corners of My Mouth

By William Hurst

i don’t want to live
through my children,
squatting down again
beside their hearts
(elbowing organs
out of the way)
so i could give
a good stretchpullandturn
like i was
two

i don’t want to die
together with someone,
like we were tourists
on a cruise-liner,
lying back in the splotched
sun-swept sky,
to tide us over
till the rest stop

no, i want to die
alone, and under my
beating heartarmsandlegs
like i was fighting
the last battle at Thermopylae,
blood and bone mashed
together with a spear,
letting go

“let me do it on my own”

William Hurst is an undergraduate at Lee University, Cleveland, TN. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies. His poetry emphasizes the place of the natural in unnatural circumstances, and is influenced primarily by the work of T.S. Eliot, E.E. Cummings, and Charles Bukowski. He plans to eventually finish an M.A. and a Ph.D in Medieval History


	Stuff in the Corners of My Mouth By William Hurst i don’t want to live through my children, squatting down again beside their hearts (elbowing organs out of the way) so i could give a good stretchpullandturn like i was two i don’t want to die together with someone, like we were tourists on a cruise-liner, lying back in the splotched sun-swept sky, to tide us over till the rest stop no, i want to die alone, and under my beating heartarmsandlegs like i was fighting the last battle at Thermopylae, blood and bone mashed together with a spear, letting go “let me do it on my own” William Hurst is an undergraduate at Lee University, Cleveland, TN. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies. His poetry emphasizes the place of the natural in unnatural circumstances, and is influenced primarily by the work of T.S. Eliot, E.E. Cummings, and Charles Bukowski. He plans to eventually finish an M.A. and a Ph.D in Medieval History