An Avalanche of Flies

A cavalcade of planes

piercing the soft skin of clouds,

so white & thick like sour milk.

Silent zombies ascending the sky

like sleeping flies.

My mind is adumbrated.

I can’t find a clue.

I have to read William Golding’s

Lord of the Flies again.

Perhaps, I would find a connection.

— Flies are not just insects.

They are the salt of myths.

C[rude] salt bombarding

the city’s eyes.

Pyrokinetic planes &

cacophonous sounds of flies

splitting the city’s ears.

A blue sea rich in lights

ready to submerge the city’s body.

White clouds hauntologies—

shields for a slumbering city

shrouded in mist & peace.

-by Ali Znaidi

                                                                                                                          

                                                                       

Ali Znaidi (b. 1977) lives in Redeyef, Tunisia, where he teaches English. His work has appeared in various magazines and journals worldwide. He authored four poetry chapbooks including Experimental Ruminations (Fowlpox Press, 2012), Moon’s Cloth Embroidered with Poems (Origami Poems Project, 2012), Bye, Donna Summer! (Fowlpox Press, 2014), and Taste of the Edge (Kind of A Hurricane Press, 2014). He also authored a fiction book titled Green Cemetery (Moment Publications, 2014) which is in fact the first Tunisian flash fiction collection written originally & published in English language. Some of his poems have been translated into German, Greek, Turkish and Italian.

You can follow him on Twitter @AliZnaidi. You can see more of his work on his blog aliznaidi.blogspot.com.

Painting Courtesy: Chris Howard

Chris Howard is an illustrator, working in ink, watercolors, and digital formats. His web site is SaltwaterWitch.com.