Bogleech.com's 2018 Horror Write-off:
Amikuk
Submitted by Jenne Kaivo
The amikuk swims through the tundra as smooth as the sea
and it makes no disturbance
no wake of sod furrowed in Vs as its fin breaks the surface.
and you hear its deep rumble you feel in your bones
coming from no location, coming from all around
and you hear the sound loud,
as the ground underfoot quickly thaws to a mire
the thick mud beneath your feet giving
above your feet oozing and holding you fast
like there’s somewhere to run.
The amikuk swims in your body as smooth as can be
there it makes a disturbance
it bites on your liver in play,
like a whale with a shark.
Its tall dorsal fin makes a wake in your heart.
It grows in your belly and wriggles like worry
streamlined, invisible writhes
in your mind like the cold bite of sorrow, sharpens
its teeth on the memories of friendship
‘til you are alone.
The amikuk breaches, and swims in your body, and leaves
you collapsed in the wild, cooling in the red mud
of the blood and the spring.
The ground groans again
as it makes its way silently laughing
through permafrost seas.
and it makes no disturbance
no wake of sod furrowed in Vs as its fin breaks the surface.
and you hear its deep rumble you feel in your bones
coming from no location, coming from all around
and you hear the sound loud,
as the ground underfoot quickly thaws to a mire
the thick mud beneath your feet giving
above your feet oozing and holding you fast
like there’s somewhere to run.
The amikuk swims in your body as smooth as can be
there it makes a disturbance
it bites on your liver in play,
like a whale with a shark.
Its tall dorsal fin makes a wake in your heart.
It grows in your belly and wriggles like worry
streamlined, invisible writhes
in your mind like the cold bite of sorrow, sharpens
its teeth on the memories of friendship
‘til you are alone.
The amikuk breaches, and swims in your body, and leaves
you collapsed in the wild, cooling in the red mud
of the blood and the spring.
The ground groans again
as it makes its way silently laughing
through permafrost seas.