Rotten Tongue by Bogdan Dragos

the big purple bird

with no eyes

and chipped beak

didn’t fly

It walked like a normal

person would. Almost like someone

was wearing it as a costume

but he knew

of course

that there was no one wearing the costume

It

was real

and it showed itself to him

on too many occasions. Every time

he was alone

and it was hard to not be

alone

when you drove all people away from

your life

The bird got closer and

closer and

began talking to him and telling him

how his rotten tongue was

cursed

and that he would drive away everyone

to whom he spoke

He couldn’t take it anymore

and ran out of

the house

and towards the car

Oh, but the purple bird was

there already

Inside

Waiting on the passenger’s side

he began to scream

They found him the next morning

collapsed…