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	enjoy this writing from Mike Brennan in the cc&d free 2014 PDF file chapbook: Postcards from Exile    (click on the front cover image or the title text to download the free PDF file, available with two different covers)				You can also order this release as a 2014 6" x 9" perfect-bound paperback ISBN# book! Click on the cover spread for the book Postcards from Exile

Order this writing in the book the Beaten Path (a Down in the Dirt Jan. - June 2014 collection book)		get the 372 page Jan. - June 2014 Down in the Dirt magazine issue collection 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

The Ugliest Of Hands

Mike Brennan

Cut, cracked, calloused, & burned
My hands creak like an attic &
My knuckles pop like beer bottle tops
Scratched, torn, & casually adorned
With carelessly dropped cigarette butts-
My hands get uglier every day

Constantly trembling with an ailing naivety,
General anxiety, soothing shots of whiskey,
Or for an abrupt act of aggression-
As the trigger finger always tingles the worst, while
Clenching a Camel Filter, punching through a wall,
While clutching a bottle or pen
Or cauterizing another wound with salt & iodine

These palms will one day lay lifeless by the sides
While I’m passed out in paradise
Dressed in a most unnatural best
From head to toe, with embalming fluids
Flowing freely inside

I see their sordid histories through
A shattered last shot glass
& I have to always hold them back
From wringing love’s lithe neck &
Smashing them straight through
A stained glass window

Each finger seems to represent
Another bitter insolent disappointment-
My hands get uglier every day

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