"Kids In Satan's Service" by Garrett J Brown

Paradise vendors sugar the apples

in stereo, spoon bad religion, squeeze

blind melon, no doubt counting

crows, jellyfish, joy. Division styx

the flaming lips. Imagine dragons talking,

heads throbbing gristle... godspeed.

You, black emperor, bring me

the horizon, wang chung the magnetic

fields, the ink spots, midnight oil tears.

For fears seal erasure. Kraftwerk kills

morphine rush, air supply, love &

rockets hold steady. Dead milkmen

& the Go-Gos cream, pixies rage

against the machine, clutch the velvet

underground throwing muses & 10,000

maniacs kiss nirvana.

Garrett J Brown is the author of Manna Sifting, which won the Liam Rector First Book Prize. His poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in journals such as Black Warrior Review, Passages North, The Account, and TriQuarterly. He lives in Baltimore and teaches at Anne Arundel Community College outside of Annapolis.