"Cutter's Demon"

By s.p. burke

I've got this little critter
that mucks about my veins,
twitches my muscle fibers,
and echoes through my brain.

He's telling me, "It's over."
I must be clinically insane
to listen to him whispering
to "Just do it, again."

...to walk into the kitchen
and grab a knife, or fork...
to drag slowly across my skin
until I've opened the doors

so he can trickle down
my flesh
and puddle upon floor.
That if, I dare release him,
he will visit me, no more.

But he's such a fucking liar,
absolutely full of shit,
and now I'm kneeling in a pool
of tears, and blood, and spit...

His chortles turned to sniffles,
I swear I heard him gasp for breath
realizing if he wins, he losses,
'cause we will share, the death.

---

s.p. burke is a recently retired intelligence analyst in the US Army. Follow him here. Listen to our Savage Wonder podcast episode with him here.

---

This week on the Savage Wonder podcast…

James is an Army Ranger and combat veteran turned actor, playwright and screenwriter. He graduated from NYU's Grad Acting Program in 2021.

James will appear as one of the two leads in the upcoming feature film Sirens as well as Gareth Edwards' science fiction blockbuster True Love, releasing in 2023.

---

We’re sold out for The 39 Steps and the four performances we scheduled of Dudley Moore and Peter Cook’s Good Evening are filling up quickly, so we’ve added a fifth performance of Good Evening on November 12. Help us wrap up the last show of our 2022 season with a bang!

---