Beat and Duct by Justin Zanzarella

The Value of Being Full

By Erin Rodino

There are mortal maggots
Everywhere:
White, sucking and needing.

In the fruit bowl—
Overflowing.
Consuming chunks of fruit.

They pop between the teeth of consumers.
Their juices run over and stain their gums.

After they're eaten,
It is done.

Their ways are, indeed, contagious.
The muscles of madness anchored
In the indefinite ability of mankind,
To always eat—to always be full.

Erin Rodino is one of the chief editors of Scalped magazine and a MA student at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she is currently studying literature. She has composed short fiction, prose and poetry. Within the last year she has written and presented academic papers on Ernest Hemingway and Charles Bukowski. Her primary literary interests often align with modernism, Catholic motifs and surrealism, in both her academic and personal writing pursuits. Her favorite writers who have influenced and altered her perception and creation of literature are: Ernest Heminway, Jack Kerouac, Flannery O'Connor, Augusten Burroughs and Charles Bukowski.

Back To Contents

Back To Cover

Cover l Contents l Gallery l Authors l Artists l Archives l Submissions l About Us l Contact Us