Michaela A Gabriel

maurice contemplates suicide

he gathers the violet lights
of the city in his eyes -
pupils barter blackness
for a shockwave, a crunch
of brightness in the night

sharp air stabs his lungs,
a pair of frightened amphibia -
he wants to stop breathing,
stuff his hopeless mouth
with amyl nitrate soaked monkeys
and never cease to smile

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"mod's hair"

what do naked mannequins want
at a hairdresser's late at night,
especially in such cold cold
blue light, with void faces
and smiles that are wiped
by wet towels during the day.

nothing in their eyes is human;
their gaze is sharp as scissors,
spiky as metal combs.
bald heads don't belong here.
such lifesize dolls fit into clubs,
smart-ass parties, half-filled glasses
in their useless hands.

i know if they could speak,
they'd have german accents,
nasal voices and would not be able
to properly pronounce the shop's
weird eighties name.

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Michaela A Gabriel, born 1971, lives in Vienna (Austria) and earns her living as a web designer. A passionate traveller and "communication junkie", she needs people, music and books. She has been writing poetry since age 13, but likes to think she has improved since then. English became her "poetry language" almost a decade ago, her mother tongue German only making guest appearances. Her poems have been published in several magazines, both in print and online, including Gangway, Samsara Quarterly, Stirring, and The Horsethief Journal, as well as in the print anthology In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself, Vol. 3. Michi, as she likes to be called, is editor of the German edition of Poetry Niederngasse and is desperately trying to find the time to finish her first chapbook.

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