Cauldron Anthology Issue 5: Seer Cauldron Anthology Issue 5 Seer (1) | Page 29

“Soldier, Still In Service to Jehoram” Timothy Tarkelly “How many kings have I flayed for? Piked heads and flames fuelled with rags soaked in enemy blood and stoked with sharpened bones. My knees are old From decorum. Generations of genuflecting Before sceptre-wielding giants: patent-wielding babes, august by birthright. How many captains have called my name, to run amongst the Moabites and cleave? Blood of my enemies mating on the bodies of my friends. But treachery stops at the ear’s edge. Who can blame Achab, the vessel when lips are pouring life’s rent in liquid whispers that drip between her thighs. The streets were littered with mouths to feed and the children’s teeth chattered even louder than the dogs on a dinner spiced with caution: ‘this could have been your daughter.’” Cauldron Anthology 29