Alongside the Black River by Scott C. Holstad
All I wanted was a nice
warm bath,
sit back,
relax,
think about life,
but the door didn't lock
and it was impossible to
tell if someone would
come in to fuck you
or kill you so I
went without.
After passing the
dementia test,
I was carted over to
Thalians, a part of
Cedars, where they
timed you in the
showers - no
bathtub anyway.
When I got sent
from 3 West to
3 East, I actually
had my OWN
shower, and I
reveled in it,
although there
were still time
limitations, and I
still couldn't
shave alone.

One black queen
threatened to come
by my last night and
service me
best ever
and I thought about
this and I wasn't
sure whether I
would beat the
holy shit out of
him if he tried
or if I'd let him
give it a go. Never
came by. Damn.


Scott Holstad, Has authored 9 poetry books. His work has appeared in hundreds of magazines in 26 countries and 5 languages, including journals such as The Minnesota Review, Hawaii Review, Wisconsin Review, Kiosk, Chiron Review, Long Shot, Exquisite Corpse, Textual Studies in Canada, Pacific Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Arkansas Review, Lullwater Review, and Southern Review.

Back to Table of Contents