Let there be multiplication
What orientation / the middle of the road
point your compass / toward true failure
hovering god / your rating was very good
not excellent / not four stars vouched for
after six days this / a home away from home
unpracticed perfection / not recommended
by blurbing tourists / thread counts uncounted
average means comfort / a map says lie down
we all get run over / in the middle of the road
a frowning icon dreams of vengeance
vengeance is the next thousand pages
our bible had coupons / for earthly discounts
this hotel with its pools / heated watery pools
heated good and boiling / the people bleed
without purpose / then with purpose
we are split into two / again and again
to multiply is to let there be division
a cell is an army / to destroy and to capture
our coordinates / and to split
we must check out
Let there be history
Cain and Abel / legally changed names
Two brothers and a notary public
Always and Never / Never and Always
loosely translated / into the soil
Always never had a dream
Never always had a dream
the kids / busy with their squabbles
both brothers built / jealousy muscles
out of spare parts / and parts were spare, mister
fingers washed away / in candescent mist
pull those hairs out / sing worksongs higher
look at look at / all that leftover flesh
from the cleaving / let’s build a fort
Always / a corker / a lickity spitfire
Never / a cook / slow to marinade
ground swallows groveling / for crumbs
at the welcome table / indecent chirps
silenced with boots/ Always silencing
Never chirping / again and again
those dreams aren’t coming
true / Always always agrees
those dreams aren’t coming
Always always lies with vengeance
Never never lies in a fortress
a little bird / told history to change
the names back / but forgot why
the only evidence / some stone tablets
and a notary seal / barking the truth
from beyond the sea / endangered
by generations / hunting their pelts
and the monks are silent as canaries
JR Walsh was born in Syracuse, NY and lives in Boise, Idaho. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Boise State University, where he now teaches English as a Second Language. He is a Fiction Editor at The Citron Review. His writing is found in many fine publications, such as Out of Stock, Juked, Grey Sparrow Journal, Alice Blue, Timshel, Esquire, and B O D Y. For more go to: itsjrwalsh.com.