Potionalia

Potionalia
by Nick Gisburne

Bleeding maggots boiled in wine
Mucus mixed with turpentine
Burning entrails thick with soot
Tiny skulls crushed underfoot

Tear ducts squeezed into a jar
Lungs split open for their tar
Teeth pulled from a screaming cat
Red, infected human fat

Crusted brown and yellow stains
Tissues torn by prison chains
Rancid eggs too sick to hatch
Lesions old men cannot scratch

Rats found stillborn in their beds
Cold, convulsing cockroach heads
Birds dismembered as they nest
Discharge from a dirty breast

Blowflies, steamed with curdled bile
Lips too bruised to form a smile
Tattooed fingers sliced away
Ulcers foetid with decay

Scabs ripped from a septic sore
Blister serum, quick to pour
Worm flesh crawling with disease
Swarming, virus-fattened fleas

Snake eyes pierced with poisoned pins
Skin conjoining mutant twins
Liars' tongues pulled from the head
Twitching muscles not quite dead

Dust of disinterred remains
Tangled, ragged, ruptured veins
Scrapings from a corpse's feet
Semen smeared on putrid meat

Foetal organs ground to paste
Sweat of pain and death to taste
Mashed with blood and bone and spit
Served with fries - I'm loving it