ciphers small
upon a plinth

Twin image of a figure from the waist up, cloned and digitally manipulated, mirrored across a vertical axis marked by two thin bands of neon green and orchid. The figure is lit in neon green, pink and purple and has their arms raised, face turned away from the camera, wearing a cropped tank with spaghetti straps. The superimposed text is digitally distorted and illegible, to the point where the letters seem to form bar codes, but written on the abdomen of the figure: M8.

A twin image of a figure clothed in black dress, arms outstretched, mirrored over a horizontal axis and flipped. The top image is clear and lit with purple while the bottom is distorted, wavy and lit with dark magenta. Over this, the words coy / opaque / ciphers small / upon a plinth / prismic, splitting/ light-like into a spectrum / of selves / selves. The text continues into the bottom half but is digitally distorted and partly illegible save the words "our lies."

 

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Kenneth M Cale is a lapsed Scot who lives in Oregon and makes word/image things. His chapbooks include Nostalghia (Petrichor, 2026), Midnight Double Feature (C22 Press, 2025 / Sweat Drenched Press, 2020), and Greater Vegas Bleeds into the Dreams of my Cryogenic Slumber (Steel Incisors, 2022). You can find him on bluesky: @kennethmc.bsky.social