Jim Sharples
Toad
My eyes spring open
but the night is still black.
Quickly I snap my eyelids shut,
but it’s too late.
I’m awake.
Life-juices wallow in my tubes.
I shiver, my brain quivers and morphs
into an albino toad
squatting in my cranium.
The toad burps, dredging up
disturbing memories of failures and regrets.
My consciousness is polluted,
sleep won’t come.
Then the flatulent beast farts.
My future is bleak.
Every task, every ambition is doomed.
My tormentor spits rancid phlegm.
All friendships are blighted forever.
Slowly the squatter coils its poisonous tongue
to strike.
I plead for the dawn to save me . . .
What a miserable sod!
Guilty of toadian-projection.
Smiling, I thud
the heel of my hand
against my forehead.
The creature squelches inside my skull.
I put the kettle on.
The toad croaks
and winks a pink eye.
Page(s) 18
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