Channie Greenberg, The Lion’s Share of Ourselves
excerpt
The Lion’s Share of Ourselves Publisher: Seashell Books Date: May 14, 2026 Length: 136 pages ISBN: 979-8196840265 |
This book contains poetry and art that originally appeared in Bewildering Stories.
Drunk Emailing
Drunk emailing’s alike lighting schooners on fire, alike slapping a boss,
Alike sucking down candy-coated laxatives, alike jogging on train tracks.
It’s less than hilarious sharing sexual conquests with coworkers, ex-lovers,
Grown children, clergy, or acknowledging, to the world, that dozens of bitty
Confections got eaten because bud was fresh, abundant, and excessively enjoyed.
Better to work as a pet groomer, to pick up roadside trash, hunt squirrels, or
Detain older sisters to story them over ill-omened roebucks, blue elephants,
Also, the sorts of moggies that waltz on human senses following midnight.
Safer to skate on springtime ice, play with BB guns, skin skunks, inhale a
Lot of glue; folks cast evil eyes on fluorescent tykes pottering via consoles.
First published in Winamop, July 2025.
A Little Bit Predacious
Like divers battering rams of Arctic icebreakers, they swiveled
Quickly, dodging the principal impediments, bursting through
Obstacles with colossal force, ever slicing the opposition. Oft,
Such powers rendered companion crafts out of action, forever.
While baring no azimuth thrusters, equally, human marauders,
Stayed inclined to rupture, that is, to breach, all unfriendliness.
Such challengers trespassed multifarious, honorable intentions.
Global law spat at them as did randoms sorts of pet translators.
And so, certain individuals were measured a little bit predacious,
Somewhat rapacious, still vulturine. Those others, who searched
For means to ravage publics’ ideas, to tear apart wisdom’s quest,
Pillaged concepts devised to buoy centuries of esteemed legacies.
Beware the Boerboel! Avoid the All-domain Anomaly Resolution
Office! Whether flesh or AI, don’t crusade to survey, collect, else
Report secreted data! Better outcomes originate from scrupulous
Inventory-taking. Best answers remain imbedded in magnanimity.
First published in MasticadoresUSA, October 2025.
Okapi
Near giraffe, rainforest ground pounder,
Zebra socks, camelopard-length stripes,
Tallish tetrapod, squat neck undersmile,
Unlikely to bandy words midst persons.
Treasured herbivore, devouring pasture,
Likewise, fungi, fruits, scarce verdures,
Horned else decked with paired bumps,
Sprouting shiny fleece befitting tropics.
Periodically, nutrition, not pica, entreats
Riverbed clay morsels via that sapphire,
Prehensile clapper, as grooming events,
Overpower dimorphic mating moments.
Your hoofs’ plwyfol-laden glands split
Territories while your mouth produces
Infrasounds. Nesting calves by-passes
Predation, but not ever human enmity.
Booya!
First published in Spillwords, June 2025.
Copyright © 2025 by Channie Greenberg
