Everything they ate frozen, hard on the tooth, stored in vats, visitors in vats, arrived and saying it so, the break between this time and that, making those who ate turn to wonder, and wonder turn to revulsion, lingering in rotation, vats in two with each half lived under, the protection it gave to a people that, with no vats remaining, life frozen, grow weak and starve, as planned, or by consequence of their revulsion, the kelp or something like kelp holding them down, and the sawing, where they sat, or lay, below crust, for want of places to store their food in bulk, and horde it, oceans of filth, mounds of solid, making home in liquid that solidified before dividing pieces into morsels, with foodstuffs gathered in mounds instead of vats, of mince, of lard, the salt, and everything else they ate, but food in mounds does not keep, does not divide, but falls as prodded, outgrowths at the peak of every mountain apiece, they did not emerge, in any case, from the vats, a structure sawn in two, destroyed by the things that travelled, and reported, which is how they were found, those others, who do not store their food in vats, or mounds, but ate food as it was encountered.

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Ansgar Allen is the author of several books, including two novellas, Wretch (Schism) and The Sick List (Boiler House Press, forthcoming).

Emile Bojesen is a musician and sound artist and the author of Forms of Education, his most recent musical release is Scrape on LINE.

Image courtesy of Ansgar Allen & Emile Bojesen.