murder, machete, machine gun by Tohm Bakelas

“my name is murder” he mumbled,

“i’m here to kill the haitians with 

my machete. i’m going to cut 

their fucking heads off.”

 

“okay” i said, “good thing

i’m greek.”

 

he laughed and asked if

i had a machine gun

 

“no i don’t” i said

 

“that’s too bad” 

 

he shook my hand and 

walked down toward the

other patients’ bedrooms,

blasting them with his 

invisible machine gun 

before disappearing into

his room and screaming 

 

i went back to my desk

and began to eat my lunch 

Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, zines, and online publications. He is the author of 19 chapbooks and several collections of poetry, including “No Destination” (Kung Fu Treachery Press, 2021) and “The Ants Crawl In Circles” (Whiskey City Press, 2022). He runs Between Shadows Press.