Gil Dreamt about
Zombies and Women

by Michaelsun Knapp

Gil dreamt about zombies and women,

and in one night he lived

for a month. His subconscious had him

hook up with a crew that took him in; taught him

how to shoot a rifle, and to aim for nothing

but the head. After a few days

he hooked up with Mira whose skin smelled like mahogany

and spoke like fire in a windstorm.

While looting a Wal-Mart

they learned to dance from a book

Gil found on the floor and

on the roof of a McDonalds, he taught her the shapes

stars could make and she showed him the shapes they could,

to bite down on flesh

to keep from screaming. In a theatre, not as empty

as he thought,

Gil used his rifle

and learned to kill,

learned what a trigger

could pull from him. In a theatre

emptier than he could stand,

bit his rifle to keep from screaming,

learned how “goodbye,”

“I’m sorry,” and “I love you.”

felt hollow between his teeth.

learned the taste of a gun barrel

and when the muzzle flashed

woke up

learning that only hours passed,

and that his wife

would never learn to dance with him,

that she would never teach him how stars

could curve around the body of a woman

and instead wept through his fingers

longing for the sound of a fire in a windstorm

and the smell of mahogany