Life in the Petri Dish

By: Dan Smallegange

A Beast at Prey

There I strode
Into the darkness
With pride and purpose
Failing to heed
Your calls and
Protestations
Alone and watchful
Darkness and solemn
And then I pulled
The knife
And walked and waited
The silver metal
Glinting
In the moonlight
It quelled my fears
And soon my shaking hand
Grew still
I waited and
Watched to see
If my friend or enemy would come
Waiting to kill my friend if I must
Waiting to kill my enemy
If I could
Failing to heed
Your calls and
Protestations
Quiet as it should
Quiet as it must
A beast at prey
Invisible

By: Daniel Smallegange

I Shouted a Toast to the Heavens

I shouted a toast to the heavens tonight
For my fallen friend
So recently gone
Taken by no fault of his own
By violence, by insanity
I shouted:
Hey Dom, I am here and
Drinking a pint to you
And if there's an afterlife
I hope you hear me
And are looking down
Enjoying one of your own
At some pub or bar or seedy joint
I don't really know what you prefer
Didn't know you that well
For those types of things
But I remember you
Your good nature and genius
Iconic Aussie hat, too
Remembering you tonight
Drinking pints
On my porch
Hope you heard me
If there's an afterlife
At all
At all

By: Daniel Smallegange

Ali Out and Into the Desert

Ali out and into the desert
Where they cry and knash their teeth
Those deemed outrages or ugly or
Too special
Ali pays them no mind
Out and into the desert
To try and steal sand from the wind
To try and make deals with a djinn
Ali strong and Ali fast
Broken wrapped glass for a dagger
Quicker than the sacred asp
Out and into the desert
Ignoring they who knash teeth and cry
Who come night may test the teeth
Of the jackal packs

Ali smiles grim and fierce
Passes the reaching prostrate
Gives them freely his advice:
It is better to steal than beg
Then out and into the desert
His rags windswept and encapsulating
Ali picks the sand from his eye
Proudly confronts the winds
That have buried civilizations
Let alone a scrawny boy of twelve
To seek adventure and find his djinn
To face the wastes and reveal his sin
Ali alone to brave the night
Ali is free, Ali is bright
Out and into the desert

By: Daniel Smallegange

Down to the Shed (Where All the Demon's Head)

I want to
Greet you and meet you
Sweep you away
Take you down to the shed
Down to the old shed
Where all the demon's head
Where they dance and plead victim
Where they drink and seek wisdom
And none know what's in store
Chastisement parked abandoned
Outside the door

Come here sweet mystery
And climb into my head
Let me take your arm
Down to that old shed
Where the merry are led
Where the demon's head
To drink away their pain
And seldom do abstain
Down back near the old creek
Where it's dark and warm
Where all are safe from harm

I need to see you
By bonfire light
Sweep you away into the night
Take you down
Down to the old shed
Where all the demon's head
And no one speaks of the dead
But of life, and where Bacchus rules
The dance is free of Christian loathing
Dancers soon bereft of clothing
Sweating and gyrating to the horns of pan

Baby I need to
See you and press against you
Take you down the secret ways
Down to the shed
Where all the demon's head
Libations for the duration
Leave your troubles at the door
Pound some drinks and hit the floor
Back down to the shed
Where the guilty have all fled
And innocence is all but dead

By: Daniel Smallegange

Disturbing Dream May 2013

I had a dream where I was walking at night, lost in an ancient city. I looked down and to my horror there was a black worm inside my index finger. I took an old fashioned penknife and made a hole in my finger, reached in and pulled it out, but it stretched and was holding on. I pulled more and it stretched and grew becoming a caterpillar or centipede, black. Finally, I pulled it out and threw it on the stones where it morphed again and sprouted beetle like wing covers... I went home after this and the massive ancient house we lived in was silent. Where the stairs had been had altered into something so steep I couldn't reach the door and kept sliding back.

By: Daniel Smallegange

Deadly Like a Gun

She has eyes that
Easily accelerate
The pace of my pulse
And the quick
Of my thoughts
Movements orchestral
Pin me down
Deadly like a
Gun
She takes my mind and cunning
Twists it this way and that
And I am
Easily distracted by
Her fishnets and hunger which
I seldom can abate
All my lingering fortitude
She shreds it with those eyes
And easily exacerbates
My culpable
Paper-made heart

By: Daniel Smallegange