D.O.A.

Inspired by Ann Charters’ nightmare

Arthur Ramirez
2 min readFeb 23, 2024
Photo courtesy of Yours Truly. Minneapolis, July 2023

I shut my eyes and imagine the
satisfying scrape of the knife paring
clean my bones,
used to scribble in future quarterlies

the writer’s bifocals are smudged with
facial grease, adjusted throughout the
short days of citations, half-assed cold press,
half-smoked cigarettes, half-ass masturbation

They utter, “At least I’m a decent-looking leech.”

They shrug and refill the cartridges with more blood.

try as they might, the beloved ashes
have scattered to the tightest crooks
that elude every form of floor cleaner

They groan, “The haze of creativity always irritates my eyes.”

all those considerate parasites observe the
creative-polluted city skyline
wisps of cremated authors joining
the celebrity secondhand smoke

They grow bored of their favorite rotten corpses, even after the…

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Arthur Ramirez

Aspiring novelist and amateur poet and op-ed writer on gay/queer/GSM topics. CA —> MN —> ? Stick around if I haven’t bored you yet.