You Never Get Poor From Taking — Miranda O’Sullivan

Choked up in the gullets of large men,

words dribble down their chins,

akin to infants—

as we all once were—

all sludge, sick, and death.

Threats, to me, coughed up in chunks, sputtered

back into our faces.

It turns my stomach,

rots within my gut,

leeches up my throat

if I settle with it for too long.

It leaks out through large screens,

from speakers and phones—

over soaring flags—

dripping their vomit

in my ears until it floods my brain.

Sick sweetness coats their mouths;

For the good of good

People in this good

Country under good,

or however they sell it to us,

as they spit up straight into our eyes.

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Miranda O’Sullivan is a junior English major and creative writing minor. She’s been published in the past by ARCH, as well as being on the editorial team for the previous two issues. She enjoys writing poetry but mostly draws and does photography in her free time.