OSU Edition by Kathleen Fellows

OSU Edition by Kathleen Fellows

This strange thing must have crept right out of hell

It resembles an ordinary book

Straight from the book store where the rest remain

Only this one cannot be found online

Nor can it be sold there for any cash

“This version is trimmed,” They always say

“It has less so you can pay less,” They say

But they are only convincing demons

Threatening with withheld information

Ultimately working for the devil

If you summon the coins necessary

If you can begin to gather enough

You certainly will not be rewarded

The pages will feel like a fragile tongue

A dry cat tongue that soaks all of the wet

Out of your hands and makes it vanish

Because it does not go into the page

The pages become more yet stiff and rough

At first, the delicate paper makes you

Hesitant to touch and turn those pages

Then you remember you cannot sell it

Still the book is cursed, “Why is this here?”

You may ask, or, “How did it get to earth?”

It did travel a long ways to get here

To the surface and to a school of kids

Perhaps a moment should be taken to

Appreciate its amazing efforts

And supernatural accomplishment

Of arriving all the way here just to

Force poor individuals to pay up

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Fork by Charles Simic

This strange thing must have crept   

Right out of hell.

It resembles a bird’s foot

Worn around the cannibal’s neck.

As you hold it in your hand,

As you stab with it into a piece of meat,

It is possible to imagine the rest of the bird:   

Its head which like your fist

Is large, bald, beakless, and blind.