one two three and four
and one and two
and three and four
and one and two
and three and four
and one

‡

MATER SUSPIRIORUM

mater blood
mater beloved

come for me
behind the curtain
in the shadow
of the zero

come sing

mater forever

this light

le soleil étrange

what’s night
I don’t know night
I hiss and spit at it

I only know morning

the eye unlidded

‡

MATER BARRE

I am doing the pyramid allegro
on Escherstrausse

points and corners

pirouettes on tessellated tiles

help me

there’s a murderer

it was just the wind
how morning calls you
little threats
help me

this is just the wind calling

its own worst enemy

as it buffets my arabesque

there’s a murderer
whispering in my midst

what was
is it whispering

‡

MATER MORTEM

I see my country
unravel itself

you saw it too
skimming a few million
of yourself into the ocean
it borders

something terrible
truly horrible
something horrible
has happened

I was trying to find the word
for a madman
holding the handle

I had the blade at my chest
it was teaching me to dance

avant avant mater fear
you’re killing me
with your forwardness

‡

THIS PLACE IS UGLY NO?

don’t be afraid
to say so

rifles pointed at forty-five degrees
at your heart when you’re
crouched in prayer

the heart makes it own chambers
the heart has its own cage
pierced by the barrel of ugliness

the crooked smile
of a trigger
and the monstrous finger
crooked around it

mater violence

your teeth always shine
when you smile

your teeth were always false
on both rows

‡

MATER FALCONRY

deliver me into your claw

distend me
you falcon

surplus feathers grafted
onto your metal wing
of state suited

battalion regalia

I am not the one     but
I am all the ones you want

remove the hood
before rending

I am red paint inside
wishing to be movie magic

instead of dripping
and dying

‡

MATER SUSPIRIORUM

mater suss

who is dripping down
the labyrinth walls

day outlasts
its naming

let me tell you
one last time

I am only the equation
for the way

color drains from
my lips and fibers

‡

MATER VICTIM

exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out
exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out
exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out
out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out
exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out
exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist
out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist
out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out
exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out
exist out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist
out exist out exist out exist out exist out exist
out exist out exist out exist out exist out
exist out exist out exist out exist out
exist out exist out exist out exist
out exist out exist out exist
out exist out exist out
exist out exist out
exist out exist
out exist
out

‡

MATER HIBERNACULUM

do you wish to kill
this window into me
it is a cave for snakes
a shelter and song

it takes only a pane
of frosted glass to refract me
I am learning what night is for

my pre-industrial frame is failing
to wake from intermezzo
it walks the corridors
holding walls upright

holding to you
I tried to find the beauty
in my brain
but there was so much skull
in the way

it is a safe house for now
but please break it

‡

MATER VIVANT

in twilight
everyone came back
to their guilds and covens
while the Bolshoi
played unattended
what number comes after four
you don’t know
and may never will
because earth rhythms
are content to begin
counting again
come for me
one two three four
and one
just a few forward steps
until we are all impaled
and vanish into living
away with trouble
witch and guildsman
away with morning and dusk
come night to me
mater noctis
mater nihil

‡

MATER SUSPIRIORUM

sickness behind the door
hallucinant moriar

put me to bed
I am ready for sleep
I am done with spitting

we have come
to the end of the reel
it flaps in its carriage

everyone on film
is dreaming that you
will watch them happen

you have always been quiet
mater facsimile

on the subject
of your own violence
okay

let language digest the knife
swallow it whole

this sickness unto death
is the stomach cave
where knives enjoy respite

the horror was war
against its citizens
and what a was

Americans abroad and domestic
catch the same chill

they are sheaths

with knives inside
killers many

mother of sighs
put them too
to bed

: : : : :

SCOTT HAMMER is the author of Brute Sphinx (Solar Luxuriance) and Some Body Some Hollow (Horse Less Press). His writing has appeared in NightBlock, Noo Weekly, Smoking Glue Gun, NAP, ILK Journal, and others. He is currently writing in Philadelphia.