Nightmare Elk

by Sam Preminger

For those who have left us              For those still fighting

What’s that bright and rowdy
            rolling up the street? The neighborhood


watches their children
declared a riot,             the DJ
declared a riot,             the donut shop
declared a riot.             The neighborhood
watches. Their children

         — miraculously feral —
grow antlers,                grow teeth.

Sam Preminger is a trans-nonbinary, Jewish writer and publisher. They hold an MFA from Pacific University and serve as the Editor-in-Chief of NAILED Magazine. You can find their poetry in North Dakota Quarterly, Michigan Quarterly Review, Narrative, Split Lip, and Yes Poetry, among other publications. Their debut poetry collection—Cosmological Horizons—is forthcoming from Kelsay Books (Summer 2022). They live in Portland, OR, where they’ve acquired too many house plants.

 

Photography by: Sam Preminger