Budget Cuts
Aden Thomas


they let you choose
sometimes
the fingers they will chop off;
sometimes
they let you pick the knuckle joint.
Other times
they hold down your hand
against
     the stump 

   and the ax
plunges
where it falls and lands,
taking
the whole length of two fingers,
or worse,
the entire hand, crippling
always
the rest of the body

​

About the Author: Aden Thomas grew on the high plains of central Wyoming. His work has appeared in The Inflectionist Review and Rust + Moth. His first poetry collection, What Those Light Years Carry, was published by Kelsay Books in 2017.

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