Inside My Father
By Paul Mitchell
Published 1 January 2021
I crawled inside my father
the air was fresher
than I expected
his organs
though decaying
smelt like carnival hotdogs
I stretched my limbs inside him
pressed my hands against him
felt the walls that held him
then kicked my legs out
where his were hanging
shorter though than mine
I said Sorry 'bout the disturbance,
quietly at first
then louder
when I knew he hadn't heard me
I pulled myself up
(by the bootstraps of course)
yelled through his anvil stirrup hammer
I'm in here you crazy bastard
he replied
I'll give you a backhander, laddie!
least I thought it was him
'til I saw his father
glaring through the ribcage
I didn't stick around to see
my father's beating part;
a scared little shit,
I got out of there fast