poetry by doug van hooser

Symptoms

That spot on my conscious. 

The lava flow of the words I used. 

The wasp slap on my cheek. 

The bruise in your eyes. 

The pile of contempt. 

Breaths sharp as shrapnel. 

The bellicose backfire spit through your lips. 

Tongue spanks like a leather belt. 

Tears fleeing the nest of your eyes. 

An adrenaline trembling finger 

pointing in the fire of fear. 

The fall in failures well. 

Drowning in diagnosis. 

A debate of damage. 

A dialogue of wounds. 

Blisters, burns, inflamed hubris swollen ripe. 

Forgotten forgiveness. 

Ballast of the past. 

The myopic present a stream of cataracts. 

Future’s pages a shredded first draft. 

No period after The End

Doug Van Hooser's poetry has appeared in Roanoke Review, The Courtship of Winds, After Hours, Wild Roof Journal, and Poetry Quarterly among other publications. His fiction can be found in Red Earth Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Bending Genres Journal. Doug’s plays have received readings at Chicago Dramatist Theatre and Three Cat Productions. More at dougvanhooser.com