Wes Civilz
Summer 2025 | Poetry
Headless Torso Walking in the Park
The torso’s very animated and
Walking around despite its headlessness.
Look how above its shoulders there is an
Unfocused blur like heat mirage—a mess
Of bending light and warping color. I
Don’t like the looks of this. I’m going to
Get going now. Come on, let’s go, I’ll try
To start the car before it sees us. You
Tell me you wonder what the torso wants.
It can’t be good, I say, I feel like we
Should leave it well alone and let it haunt
This public area it seems to be
Enjoying. Sometimes, you say, they just walk
Around. But other times they want to talk.
Wes Civilz lives next to a dusty cactus in Tucson, Arizona. His writing has appeared in journals such as The Antioch Review, The Threepenny Review, Arts & Letters, and Quarterly West. He posts occasional writing-oriented videos on Instagram under the handle @wes_civilz.