Two Poems by Rauan Klassnik

[ Eye and Rat (2) ]

The shovel’s rising and falling. And everyone’s screaming: bodies gorgeous, leathery and hauled out like turtles, punctual as beaches. And (Hallelujah!) you appear like an outbreak of bones hatched in the nightmare night. The light’s hard as a long twisting beak. And it burns away at our eyes. We have all died.

 

 

[ Eye and Rat (5) ]

The rat laps at the light, perspires, profusely, and then drags off and laps at another. In the center of the room there’s a giant reclining, dazed, on the cold stone—and he’s mechanically stroking his half-hard penis. And here’s a swarm of pale light dripping from his face. And the rat’s hallucinating—food, sex and shitting—as it crawls on to the giant’s stomach. Soaked. And trembling.

 

---

About the Author:

Rauan Klassnik’s new book, The Moon’s Jaw, was released earlier this year from Black Ocean. His first book, Holy Land (also from Black Ocean), was published in 2008. Rauan grew up in South Africa, then lived in Dallas, Texas (yeah, yeah) and now resides with his wife in the quiet suburbs of lovely Seattle.