Summer Beasts, Dylan Angell

Originally published in Sleaze Mag (2018).

My head bleeds molasses
and the mosquitoes that drink from my skin
are swallowed by the rivers
that gush from my glands.

Dogs follow me
but I don’t follow them
because I will outlive them
and when they die I will be the one who goes astray.

At the family BBQ
everyone took turns dowsing me in beer
but I don’t remember
seeing any cars in the driveway.

If all the bees want to cover me
then I will oblige.

Slather me in honey
and let the queen perch on my crown.
Let them buzz in harmony,
rattle my armor.

I don’t shower anymore
I just stand up
in the bed of your truck
and let the winds beat the dirt off my back.

This is how I rage:
Every time I say “why oh why?”
the crickets say “because, because, because.”
I stomp my hooves and I breathe dust smoke.
Whipping my tail like a fan.  

And the birds stay up high
because they know to stay away
from a creature as strange as I.

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Dylan Angell grew up in Durham, NC. He is a musician, a writer and is currently based in Queens, New York. In 2016 he released the book “An Index of Strangers Whom I Will Never Forget A-Z,” via his Basic Battles Books imprint. In early 2017 he released “I'll Just Keep On Dreaming And Being The Way I Am,” a collaboration with the photographer Erin Taylor Kennedy. In late 2017, he released the zine “Funeral Songs,” a collection of writings by anonymous contributors who speak of death-related experiences associated with or accompanied by a song.