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Artwork: The Maggot King by Will Jacques

Recording Our Skullsong
Michael A. Arnzen

Why memorialize the mud beneath burial mounds?
Why erase ourselves into the dust of dust,
or allow others to chisel our names
into permanent shapes we did not choose?
Our lives are like record albums
needling the grooves of our brains
but no one plays our recordings but us
when we live to remember.

If only the electricity of thought
could fire lightning
across the brain's surface
storming the fluids and
etching the significance
of key moments into the underside
of our silent skulls -- secrets
to be cracked open upon our death.

We could set our bone plates up in the morgue
like fine china saucers along the wall:
memories for mourners to read and marvel over.
Should our sins be too unforgivable
we could allow the scornful to shatter our skulls
and dissolve our misdeeds by stamping
them to powder percussively underfoot.

No one is keeping score
but the most impressive would remain
on display and on display again
if they mark the skulls of onlookers
writing their chorus across time.

(Note: First published in audio format at
https://soundcloud.com/dr-arnzen/recording-our-skullsong)

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Slayer's Ballet
Michael A. Arnzen