The Inevitable Rot
The Inevitable Rot
Atticus Premo
A cold blue day
Wings flap as feathers fall
Under which a deer will lay
And the crows beak will fall
To crack
Crack
At the skin
Crack
As they begin
To rip open his chest
To feast upon his ribs
But the coyote lays unrest
And she wants dibs
A quick dash
A quiet swipe
The murder goes wild
As she caches her win
That she cleverly whiled
But she pays no mind
To the silent kind
Of beast that falls upon her
Wham
The car hits
Skidding
Across the road
The lights go out
In the car and in her own
A man unlocks his door
Walks up to the body
He picks her up softly
To carry her to the forest floor
A flower is plucked
And tucked
Under her skin
With her faded grin
The crow lays besides her
Feathers touching fur
As weeks go by
The bugs start to crawl
They eat at the eye
Flesh starts to fall
White bones uncovered
Fresh hearty meat
Until one day she will be discovered
By a vulture needing to eat
Wings covered in blood
Belly full
His plan is to cud
To give his kids a spoonful
And one day his kids too will rot
As all have before
And all will after
But worry naught
Although there may be gore
Because hereafter
One would be keen
To acknowledge that to rot
Is to be seen
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▾ This Poem's Voice
Your Poem's Voice
Philosophical meditation on mortality and decay cycles, though grounded in concrete imagery.
Multiple interlocking ideas: predation, death, transformation, acceptance compressed densely throughout.
Dark, morbid subject matter dominated by decay and death, though ending offers acceptance.
Intense kinetic language: flapping, cracking, dashing, skidding, hitting; violent predatory action throughout.
Approximately 55 lines; falls in 31-60 range.
Rich metaphor of death cycle; personification of crows/coyotes; imagery-heavy; minimal direct statement.
Omniscient narrative voice observing multiple creatures and a man; dramatic staging of events unfolds.
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