MICHAEL RILEY

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THE NOTE ON THE FRIDGE

I don't care if you
let milk run down your neck
peel onions
chop carrots
build a river and enter it twice
just stay out of sight
the last time a woman was in this house
I had to tell everyone
the note on the fridge was an allegory
and not a metaphor

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ANWROTHIA

civilian casualties in his lower left jaw
left him more akin to leafy suburbs than palomino
his name was anwrothia after the pelican
that bit off his father's cock

his wife hid the cheese grater in her robe
having earned her husband's respect
his work mate worked her over
while he worked his shift

in paris that summer
she filled her socks with metered rhyme
and sniffed a pair of knickers stuck to a knife
anwrothia lickshunmewahed