carrion

what you'd find buried under the floorboards of a dead kids dorm room

By: Hunter Harnphanich
poetry | spring 2024

large brown leather backpack reeking of marlboro golds/containing an assortment of cheap bic lighters
that configure the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet (life was about the little
things)-

decrepit hand-me-down chemistry textbook with bullseye coffee stains opened to page 211-

several signs of silent suffering,
sharps engulfed in sweltering crimson globs of release, sick and sticky
self-inflicted slashes for salvation-
maimed CD player-
brand new iPhone 12, displaced into an ocean of glass shards-

bitter hearts, no longer beating, belonging to those once worshiped in the past (some stolen, some long
forgotten tokens of platonic affection, all most certainly underappreciated)-

rotted laundry,
mildew,
rancid food,
fruit flies-

lifeless paper mache body, hastily conjured together using a freefall of frustrated salty tears, the singed
remains of last weeks unsubmitted lab report [12 point times new roman font double spaced] and a suicide
note [12 point times new roman font double spaced]-

sugary sweet/sinful indulgences;
playboy magazine-
(the distinctly familiar smell of) marijuana-
bible,

pages mercilessly ripped from the spine

desolate pack of filters, the
once clean perforations ruined by
shaking fingers-

perfect one gram joint-

broken casio A158WA-IDF watch-




no time left to say goodbye