Meet the Author:

Steven Louis Ray is a multidisciplinary artist working in traditional film and darkroom processes, in addition to writing and recording ambient & experimental music and writing poetry. He’s currently studying poetry at San Francisco’s City College. More of his photography can be viewed at stevenlouisray.com

freak show bill

there’s a certain fluorescence in that stain on the floor 

but also, too much dirt for even the ants to ignore

no gift cards accepted  

we reserve the right to refuse service 

selection 

happiness while you wait

oh and also, let us sell you more than you bargained for, thank you very much.

 

bear witness to the leeching of all honor 

from snow that’s admittedly less than white already

lips oscillate, sparks fly but not around all ears

they choose their deafness, but why?

stainless steel provider, screw that in a little harder 

the strain is felt in the threads, this embarrassment we thee wed

 

I am metamorphosis I am reverse butterfly 

shedding my wings to build a cocoon

 

you are an unmoored allegory floating down the highway

new wheels come off everyday yet you exceed all 

expectorations

 

a collective scoff results in rips at the very fabric of a nation, 

while the world pays the slimy freak show bill

 

therein lies the rub: 

 

you live so far outside of the norm, your alterity was your great advantage 

 

No one thought it could happen.

 

 

Visual Art By: Kseniia Ha

About the Artist: In the past, I have learned how to draw religious icons, following all the scholastic rules. I have studied perfection in the craft, technique and formula of how to draw the divine face, until I finally came to feel an intangible truth: that all people on Earth already are ideal. We already are what we are searching for. I truly believe that we are the iconic images.