amidst hide-covered bones she rides him around the smell of death
greasy lips frozen with inexplicable mirth
she rides
little legs pasted against foul, matted withers 
her beast tripping hooves, like a clown ready for market

she moves him on with chubby hands clenched at raw twine
looped carelessly around and through a gaping mouth and frightened eyes
rolling, lurching with her astride
pounding thin-skinned flanks
rocking an angry child
rubbing 
a hobby horse parading
caught in her own
the knacker’s thrill 
around and around rocking the dying pony

and she never asks where he went

HUMAHNAH HUMAHNAH
daddy’s singing the auctioneer’s song

in stained concrete 
through rat-maze wood and beyond
sawdust clumped with blood
echoing outside where cowboys stand
the girl now a woman 
watches worn animals with curtained eyes

her rough hands mounting 
once again the auctioneer sings “she’s on” 

now squatting in dirt
she meets the gaze of another in pain
a beast, shifting crippled weight broken-
it waits
she hides
no longer creatures of interest 
repulsed freaks
they cannot speak and their bodies rattle numb

daddy’s gone 
and the knackers don’t bid

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Olga Alexandra lives in the steamy South and writes horror and crime fiction. She has stories forthcoming in Shotgun Honey and Amazon Kindle Vella. For more info please visit http://www.linkt.ree/olgaalexandra.

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