Andrew Stuckgold
Andrew Stuckgold is a writer and photographer living in Erskineville, NSW. He has been published in Meanjin, Cordite, and Spineless Wonder’s Writing to the Edge (the 2003 Joanne Burns Award). He is currently working toward completing an MA degree in Creative Writing at Sydney University.
Taken
These eyes that split
from the darkened water
surging upward.
A snapping lunge
armoured in nightmare,
a maw that reeks
like a bone garden, crammed
with punching teeth;
the spike hammer clamp
of shattering leaden jaw.
This green scaled grinder;
meat and sinew torn
from that still half living,
ripped ragged
to the feeding;
consumes its corpsed bride
in a salt red wash:
blood, bile, and faeces
the banquet’s
clawing perfume.