Out on the Slip-Side

By Cliff Lake

 

Out on the Slip-Side

 

They said.

They said it was wrong in there.

They said you could end out on the slip-side.

They said that’s where the shapes don’t.

 

Whiskey courage and her promise if.

The door not falling off its hinges,

The building falling down around.

Locked against the unwilling.

 

Click of the lock as my hand grasps.

The handle turns too eager.

The ancient entry noiseless allows.

Weird welcome.

 

They said this is where.

They said this is not where.

Out there on the slip-side.

Out there where the shapes won’t.

 

It’s too dark for so much light.

The roofless span open to a sky of no-color.

Sound falling dead at my feet.

No echoes but for the giggle.

 

They said it was empty except.

They said to back out in my prints.

They said there was nothing to fear.

They said don’t turn around.

 

Behind me the hot breath freezes.

Behind me the fossiled stench coils.

Behind me the giggle reaches.

Behind me my prints are gone.

 

I face the sound of inanity.

I expect my final sanity.

And nearly lose it for there is she.

Sweet succubus or wildling witch.

 

She beckons down a long dark where.

Just out of reach the demon sprite.

She promises more than I ever.

She dissolves into my madness.

 

Now have I been gone too long.

Now have I wandered too far.

Now have I lost all sense.

Now have I removed from real.

 

This is where I lost my name.

This is where is where I unbecome.

Out here on the slip-side,

Out here where the shapes don’t.

 

Cliff Lake 10/29/2023

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2023

Location: Dalton, MA, USA

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