Juliet Cook
Summer 2025 | Poetry
Little Mammoth
My latest little brain glitch:
I thought a Woolly Mastiff
was a long extinct elephant.
Not a densely fluffed up dog.
Then I conducted
research and found out
elephantiasis can be caused
by infective larvae, spread
by tiny mosquito bites.
Transferred to new hosts
when feeding. Now I don't want to eat
or be eaten. My stomach feels
constricted. Wiggling with maggots.
Little mouthparts aimed for blood
are turning into giant tusks,
piercing through others flesh,
discombobulating entire bodies.
Forming a new abnormal system
in which we are no longer
in control of ourselves and
our own flesh and blood.
Our blood will be used to season
splattered platters of the behemoths
who want their invasive rituals
to be in charge of this world's rules,
written on stone and broken bones.
Juliet Cook doesn't fit inside an Easy-Bake Oven and rarely cooks. Her poetry has appeared in a peculiar multitude of literary publications. She is the author of numerous poetry chapbooks, most recently including "red flames burning out" (Grey Book Press, 2023), "Contorted Doom Conveyor" (Gutter Snob Books, 2023), "Your Mouth is Moving Backwards" (Ethel Zine & Micro Press, 2023), "REVOLTING" (Cul-de-sac of Blood, 2024), and "Blue Stingers Instead of Wings" (Pure Sleeze Press, 2025). Her most recent full-length poetry book, "Malformed Confetti" was published by Crisis Chronicles Press. You can find out more at https://julietcook.weebly.com/.