in air thick with lack of light deep stink of hot mammal

and stabbing breath

looped like my passage through this space

what is it we fear when images come to mind

do we sense something that inhabits rooms and woodlands

beyond exhalation

under duress

my door ceases to be mine

I crumple into an apology the bedsheets are too clean for me

when the human beast arrives it hunkers down and won’t budge

remembering the man gone mad asleep

clubbing his family to death

James Knight is a poet, artist, performer and publisher based in the UK. Publications include Cosmic Horror (Hem Press), Rites & Passages (Salò Press), Machine (Trickhouse Press) and Void Voices (Hesterglock Press). Website: www.thebirdking.com. Bluesky: @badbadpoet. Instagram: @jkbirdking.