Dead on [“An den Tod” – Gleim]
translated from the German

by Jace Brittain

what is it, dead
or debtor
domestic grosser
shamer, shader,
root rotter:
so underwater
so in the red or
more desperate
for contract
so overwrought or
a little underreader
the biller, the payor
lover and jumper,
interest prurienter:

what is it, the girl
and her mother
euphimismer
the acronymer
[broken] hyper
links her to:
whats “profaner?”
idea manner, roper,
and 10000 liquid or:
strip her, stander,
counter, where
debt prisoners backer
than ever, squad firers
deader on than ever,

what is it, porn or
cheeks roseredder than
a knower-when-seer
a real S&Mer, realer
a real W&Per, water,

power, leecher,
spiller, seeder,
reaper, sewer,
investor, lucre
realer realer
muckety muck raker
stander therer
desirer,
rotredder than ever

what is it, porn corner
of the wider
web or beyond her
pale bones paler
tooth bloodier
Friday blacker
market crash golder
VPNs cheaper
lips lessor
bankruptcy barrel scraper,
what lacks the lacker,
what is left there?
what is left there?
what is left there?

kisser, what is there
what is there left where
here there, ajar
kisser, there there


Jace Brittain is the author of the novel Sorcererer (Schism Neuronics 2022) and a coeditor of Carrion Bloom Books.