Ed Higgins’ poems and short fiction have appeared in various print and online journals including: Monkeybicycle, Danse Macabre, Ekphrastic Review, and Triggerfish Critical Review, among others. Ed is Asst. Editor for Brilliant Flash Fiction. He has a small farm in Yamhill, OR, raising a menagerie of animals—including a rooster named StarTrek.
what-ta-hell, fuck this
he snorts brushing
the dust from his shoulders
reeking sweat
a rictus grimace
bent with aching knees
ankles a mess
soles calloused
and slit
a deserved glass of white wine
to wash away the exhaustion
yes, wash the guilt too
hubris-cleverness
offending Zeus
hopeless addled dreams
God knows he can’t be
switched to a worse punishment
every climb to the sky
a bittersweet birdsong
moments later fading into
echo off eroding canyon walls
his bruised heart over the years
hardened to grey stitched pain
in the winter
a fleece of snow
adding to the slipperiness
of the scree
fuck this, he says again.
For other contributions by Ed Higgins, please follow the links below:
Poetry in this post: © Ed Higgins
Published with the permission of Ed Higgins