8/15/2019 Succour: New Fiction and Poetry - Issue #4
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Editorial
To The Worlds End
Footnotes
Five Times
Four Poems
MoralsJam
The Silver Coin
Bekhterevs Madhouse
The Yellow Bicycle
Isnt this a beautiful picture
Regulars
Beauty
Meat WheelWatching The Fight
Two Poems
The Central American Space Programme
Tusks
Hairs Breath
Letter From A Distinguished Author
Contributors
Anthony Banks
Cathi Unsworth
Sean Gaston
Matt Thorne
Ben Murray
Luke KennardLaura Marsden
Andy Brown
Anthony Banks
Ginny Bailey
Kay Rone
Max Dunbar
Caroline England
Simon KossoffDavid Byrne
Sally Flint
Jay Clifton
Anthony Banks and Tom Fewings
Joh Hunt
David L. Hayles
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Photography and front cover image by Chloe Briggs
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83 T h e O b s c e n e
One ne day, Watts took my husband I walking in the Forest of Knowledge. For
an academic to take a supervisee there before graduation was unprecedented, but
to allow his young wife in too! I was nervous about making the trip, but I went
along thinking that my husband would nd what he sought in the Forest, and that
afterwards we could nally consummate our marriage.
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84S u c c o u r
Into the
Forest we
went, but we
were followed by
Hislop, a jealous
undergraduate. I
could understand his envy. What gave
my husband the right to be led directly
into the Forest? After several haunted
days Hislop nally worked himself into a
shooting position, and although the best he
could do was put a bullet in my husbands
ankle, it was enough to halt our progress.
Hislop slunk back into the undergrowth, and
Watts and I gathered around my husband.
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85 T h e O b s c e n e
In the week it took for gangrene to set in, Watts knelt at his head, whispering into his
ear day and night. How I longed to be given just a few moments with my beloved, in
which to mop his brow, and nally to offer my virginity! But at length the gangrene
blackened his balls, and put an end to all that.
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86S u c c o u r
Still, in a ceaseless ow,
Watts imparted his quiet
words, and with every one
the gangrene crept up my
husbands beautiful body.
When nally he stopped,
my husband was utterly
wasted from toe to heart;
just the shoulders, arms
and head remained
healthy.
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87 T h e O b s c e n e
Watts
rose,
exclaimed it is done, took a brief
glance at me then made to depart. But
it would not be
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89 T h e O b s c e n e
My husband grabbed him
at the ankle and administereda fearful bite, tearing through
the boot, trouser, hair, skin, esh
and bone of Watts.
His cry echoed around the
Forest, but no-body came to his
aid. Terribly and relentlessly
my husband began to
consume him, bite by bite,picking at and sucking on
then breaking the bones.
Soon he had eaten all there was
to be eaten, except for the balls, which he
gave to me in a dying gesture.
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90S u c c o u r
Upon his
death, I
wandered
through the
Forest until
I arrived at
a favourable
spot. I putone of the
balls in my
vagina, my
belly gurgled, and
out popped an egg.
I buried the egg in the
ground, where it grew and
grew until it hatched a great
tusked beast.
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91 T h e O b s c e n e
The beast remained underground
throughout its lifespan of centuries. Only
in adulthood did its tusks emerge from
the soil, but they would grow to
prodigious heights. During wars,
the combatants would impale their
enemies on these tusks you
could get twenty bodies on
each one! In time the bodies
decomposed; each tusk was
surrounded by countless
skeletons. In peacetime
children would come and
play with the bones.
So although things
didnt work out too
well that time, I retain
a ball, and fully intend
to enter motherhood
again some day.
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