Kelly Gangeness Le
The Drunk1
In the cemetery where dead dug up for reusing
haha things happen here about you don’t tell about hahah
I see through the lampshade made of skin with no light on,
I see things you see they say it’s just an old man talking you,
so before my body in this grass is taken let me take you, yeah,
laugh at an old man this thing that laughs and knows better hahah
to see our bodies matter more to the Sawyers than us.
Hahah.
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1 The Drunk, a rambling man in the cemetery, appears in the first scene of the 1974 movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Note: The italicized lines are The Drunk’s dialogue from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Portrait of Hitchhiker2
A collection of scabs, dried blood
drops satay his face, either
from his own picking or his own
picking of treats stolen
from the graveyard, stuffing
the fingers and feet in the skinned
animal bag he slings over
his shoulder. Himself a ghoul; yet
still asks the van driver and gang
who picked him up
from the road over for dinner; longs
for human interaction, laughing,
he is the killer! In favor of meat
plant jobs when his family used to kill
the cattle by hand. The old way
with the sledge, see that
was better. They died better that way.
Degrees on dying valued; reflected,
thoughtful although a cannibal among
hooved ghouls and humans alike;
wandering alone, waiting
in nowhere for new
travellers to bring him home.
In an effort to feel close
to his peers, they really were close
to his age, he says
Take me to my house. It’s real
close. You can have dinner
with us.
The gang only stares.
It’s real close.
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2 Hitchhiker is Leatherface’s brother from the murderous Sawyer family in the 1974 movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Note: The italicized lines are parts of Hitchhiker’s dialogue from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Leatherface’s Crushing Depression
Leatherface eats mint ice cream by the gallon. He slumps by his altar full of dried skin dioramas and half finished bone decorations for the foyer. He reads a book in his recliner titled Who Moved my Cheese? Plays with the new kitten Grandpa got him. Grandpa is the best killer and Grandpa is his idol. Grandpa saw how upset Leatherface was when he lost the job at the meat plant. Leatherface falls into bed. Fingers curled above the comforter, feet sticking out at the end. Dreaming of the day when he will use his chainsaw with unyielding purpose again.
Grandpa is the Best Killer
I lost my Killing job,
long ago,
I lost it.
The blood doesn’t flow
like it used to.
If only I could drink
the blood
that circulates
so slow
within.
My children’s
children
must carry
on
tradition.