Porch light haloed in moths, house leaking into the night. Inside, my father drinks, dark rum cleaving memory from throat, I take it all back. We do what we have to, to stay alive. John Pring is an author and poet based in the UK. His work has been featured in The Passionfruit Review, MONO, Oroboro, Dolorem Ipsum, Letter Review, Qu Literary, Banyan Review, Tomahawk Creek Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, Rising Phoenix Review, and others.

Bodies heavy with rifles, we gorged on meat, fresh from the river and yellow fields, just boys learning to carry death on our tongues, marrow to spit back into the world, pale bones leaving the throat like a prayer. John Pring is an author and poet based in the UK. His work has been featured in The Passionfruit Review, MONO, Oroboro, Dolorem Ipsum, Letter Review, Qu Literary, Banyan Review, Tomahawk Creek Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, Rising Phoenix Review, and othe