Phantom Cento By Michael Dwayne Smith

too slippery in the world & exposed

we were surrounded by syllables

from lungfuls of tarantulas &

pink-mouthed cats in the shower

(press star for customer service)

us all scraping our eye sockets clean

with broken whisky bottles—

but you cannot demolish a hole, so

we mustn’t cry over an absence of air

Michael Dwayne Smith haunts many literary houses, including The Cortland Review, New World Writing, Third Wednesday, Gargoyle, Chiron Review, Monkeybicycle, and Heavy Feather Review. Author of four books, recipient of the Hinderaker Prize for poetry, the Polonsky Prize for fiction, and a multiple-time Pushcart Prize/Best of the Net nominee, he lives near a Mojave Desert ghost town with his family and rescued horses. His latest full-length collection hopes to go from apparition to publication in 2024.