A. VDB

Author: andivandenberge

  • Monster

    Monster

    Tongue as a train I’ve been swallowed alive I’m inside the belly of an unknown sign But then a break, a yawn, A flash of white I move so quick The monster’s trite. It’s mouth like a cave but opens like a claw I slip through its teeth and refuse to be thralled.

  • Steam

    Steam

    Writing on the mirror my finger pushed to the glass I trace my suffering in a cursive lash I want it to fade or go away with the steam But life is cruel and pain will cling.

  • Judge, Jury, and Executioner

    **Published by Hashtag Kalakar. This personal essay made it through three rounds of judging. In the final round took 20th place out of top 1000 participants in a global competition. I am a wrist cutter. Or rather, I did it once. Had things happened with a thirty-second difference, I could be dead. The slice was…

  • pack my bags

    Quarter horse like I’m running a race Blinders on until my lungs shake and break Eyes locked or freeze framed? We float off the ground and then find out the helium’s fake Can’t live in space, can’t suspend this feeling while my hands fucking ache Stars in ur eyes, dust in mine Gotta cut the…

  • blue July

    nothing quiet like snow free falling from the sky matter meeting pavement like a feather soft lie

  • u don’t know ur the villain

    You wanted to paint me bad but these horns were cast from your shadow. Dangerous, & there I was spun in silk with punctured wounds, your thumbprints. I oozed infected acrylic you painted your roses dead then gave me credit for your blood canvas.

  • escargot in the sewer

    **Published in New Words Press Literary Mag, 2023 grabbed for scraps of attention like they were a delicacy nibbled and savored like a trapless mouse grateful for what I could get – for your cup of day old porridge. bland and thoughtless, hard to swallow, but it was you holding me – by my tail…

  • Knives over Flowers

    you live between atriums split somewhere I don’t hate you I don’t love you either I wish you well well away from me a lily, a butterfly delicate like the fuse to your unconsciousness deep brown but not hollow just empty not poured out, just never filled not an enemy, not a friend either

  • Lie to me

    water too cold, biscuit too sweet tea won’t work I can’t drink or eat my stomach shrinks but grows with pain You let me down and I want You to feel the same— way as I did when You drugged me, then hugged me, every night before bed You wanted to love me but punished…

  • Open up, pour the gas, strike the match

    Remember the big blue pills you would set on my tongue? Make me open up so you could inspect that everything was gone. So you could know you did everything you could It’s me that’s wrong It’s me that’s broken It’s me you can no longer control. But you did everything you could It’s not…