Not Everything is OK on Sesame Street
Big Bird has septic sores
Around his beak
And his fluffy yellow plumage,
From brawling
With Animal
Over the drummer’s homicidal
All-night drinking games
And the crash of cymbals
Sounding like tubular waves.
Cookie Monster is locked up
For snorting powdered cookies
From giant ceramic bowls
And consorting with loose women,
While his addiction has led him to the brink
Of madness and bankruptcy.
Oscar the Grouch woke up
With a horse’s head
Stuffed inside his trash can,
Smelling worse than burning flesh and spoiled milk.
He felt compelled
To stand beside a streetlamp
And sing old slavery songs
With clotted blood and desolate tears
Dripping from his jowls.
It’s true,
Sesame Street is falling,
Buildings ravaged by the storm
And all the creatures
Have dreams in which they’re dying—
The best
They’ve ever had.
How Are You?
How are you? Fine, thanks.
How are you? Oh, you know.
How are you? Could be better.
How are you? Well, there’s this ringing in my ears.
How are you? Do you really want to know, or is this just some kind of fucking joke?
How are you? I feel like I’m falling into a sea filled with oozing twisted seaweed, there are castles on top of castles and cats behind bars, and I want to eat and laugh and talk to my son about murder while I dash my brains out against a wall.
How are you? I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.
Visions of Kafka
The trial is on a knife-edge with
Lawyers cloaked in light
Crying at the moon
Everyone is watching
With smoke inside their eyes
The castle sits
Above us
And rules with cheap red wine
Drink it with your sadness
Then fall softly in the snow
Don’t forget to change your clothes
When you turn into a bug
Hide beneath your bed sheets
And explore the timeless shade
Where no one knows your name
Your life has become a misshapen pair of shoes
-- Tim Frank’s work has been published in Bending Genres, X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, Maudlin House, The Forge Literary Magazine, The Metaworker and elsewhere. He has been nominated for Best Small Fictions. His debut chapbook is, An Advert Can Be Beautiful in the Right Shade of Death (C22 Press ’24) His sophomore effort is, Delusions to Live By (Alien Buddha Press ’25)