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Koji A. Dae
––––––––
at night the ticky tack skitters to your bed
its brittle nails clickity clack near your head
it pants
close to your hand, your ear
trying to get a rise of fear
at first
you think it might be a tacky tick
one of those moments that seem to stick
a slip
in motion and time
a hiccup in life's rhyme
a pause
when its putrid jaws gape wide
offering a look inside
an abyss
you can't help but bend close
something inside you admires
those teeth in crooked rows
it's calling
its chilled breath reeks of decay
as something inside it beckons you away
from all
you know and love
from earth and promises of heaven above
swallowing
you fall into its maw
behind its teeth, tongue and jaw
it slurps
you lower into its acidic bowels
licking at your soul until it disavows
your trembling body
in darkness
you forget to exist
accepting the sway
of the beast's belly
and its ever-roaming
ticky tack