Pseudopod

Karen Bovenmyer

Pseudopod
After Lovecraft’s Dunwich Horror

The skin was thickly covered with coarse black fur,
and from the abdomen a score of long
greenish-grey tentacles with red
sucking mouths protruded limply

And from the abdomen a score of long
cries reverberated in the air, shivering with
sucking mouths protruding limply
kissing empty air with flinching passion

Cries reverberated in the air, shivering with
love, yearning for touch
kissing empty air with passion flinching
Reaching like me, unanswered

Love, yearning for touch
My hand lifted
Reaching, unanswered, like me
until we touched, stroking gently

My hand lifted
Tentacle coiling, uncoiling
and we answered, stroking gently
each skin thickly covered with coarse black fur

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Karen Bovenmyer earned her MFA in Creative Writing: Popular Fiction from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program in Summer of 2013. She trains future faculty at Iowa State University, where she works primarily with inspiring Ph.D. students who give her fantastic science fiction material to write about. http://karenbovenmyer.com/