Reynard Seifert

Mine Watery Eyes Bend The Sun Shapes You’ll Never See



Had a pack of cigarettes for lunch. Life is meaningless.


Crawled into a trashcan, covered myself in garbage. Scared the crap out of people walking by. A crowd gathered. People gave me lots of money.


Bought some crack & did a backflip into the lake. Held my breath. Looked up to the moon shining down, blurred to shapes by the water.


Looked down. Saw a pirate flag waving. Tried to swim to the bottom. Someone pulled me out.


Fell in love. Don’t fall in love.


Only problem was the breath. The breath. Asked him to try dry food. Barked at me. Cereal sucks, he said. Not too smart.


We played in a water fountain. Dried off in the sun. He licked every inch of my body. Humped my everything. People filmed us. Gave us lots of money.


Bought forty-seven lottery tickets & a large coffee. Mixed all the flavors & ran around in circles. 


Passed out, pants around my ankles.


Animal control took my love away. Slobbering too much. Life is meaningless again.


Climbed on top a Church’s Chicken. Gave a sermon. Don’t believe in god or whatever. My sermon was about chicken is better than beef.


Some bitch gave me five dollars to shut the fuck up. Gave her ten to hop on one foot. She did. She did that shit.


Fell in love again. Life is meaningless again. Something lacking. Nothing going.


Bought a pizza pie. Fed each other slice after slice. Threw up on the sidewalk. People wouldn’t give us no money.


Found a bowl: six-month old resin in a broken pipe. Stung our lungs like tiny daggers. Thought we were floating in the lake. Saw shapes. Got a migraine.


Found a drill. Made a hole in our temple for the resin to run out. Think that was a bad idea.
Lying on the floor. Can’t move. Lots of blood in our eyes & no money nowhere, we wonder: is that all there is.


Maybe that is all there is: blood in our eyes & on the walls. The ceiling. Maybe that is all there is: the ceiling. There’s no ceiling, she said. We outside.


Plunged into the water. Rushed over our head in sheets. Sucking air in waves rushing down, back & out. Colors becoming shapes becoming light, colossal nothing: air.


We held our breath. Swam to the bottom of the lake. Swam to a sunken sailboat sporting a pirate flag. Raised the flag half-mast. Water filled the sails.


The old boat set off on a stream. Creaking slow & stiff. An old man on a waterslide, hovering some fifty-odd feet above the muddy floor, I piloted the sailboat left & right, up & down, through the water.


Saw a mass grave. Let out the sails to stop the boat & swam over to the mound.


Gazed at the sun shining down, blurred to shapes. She crawled into the grave saying, Just leave me here. I like it here. Do that shit. Did that shit.


Picked up a stick. Left a note in the mud: Mine watery eyes bend the sun shapes you’ll never see.


Raised the pirate flag. Water filled the sails. Bent them shapes, like the sun in my eyes.

Reynard Seifert is the author of the chapbook How To Skin The Moon and the ebook zzzombiezzz. He’s been published by journals like Pindeldyboz and Hobart, with work forthcoming on PANK and Word Riot. He is a DJ on Viva Radio, publishes hahaclever dot com, and gives away music for books on his writer’s blog.