Dodo Eraser

He had moved to Trieste as a dog walker after too many rounds of Turkish tummy. The bora snapped the laundry on the line. She was trying to make him walk straighter. Go to it, she said. But he didn’t go to it. Going to it would require some other special arrangements. He stood at the Piazza Unità d’Italia. Wine dark sea in front of him. The people of higher callings wore wool or maybe cashmere. They took their dressings seriously. They wafted the air with their higher colourings. Did you do it, she said. He shook his head. They walked the old neighbourhoods. It felt better. He snapped picture after picture. Poverty is not art, she sighed, pointing to the crumbling buildings.

Marcus Silcock is a high school teacher in Barcelona, Spain, originally from Portadown, Northern Ireland. He co-edits the surreal-absurd literary magazine Mercurius. His recent microfiction and prose poems have appeared, or are forthcoming, in publications including Willow Springs, BRUISER, Hobart, Maudlin House, Blood+Honey, The Gorko Gazette, Broken Antler, and various others. His latest book is Dream Dust (Broken Sleep Books, 2025), a collection of microfictions and prose poems. Find out more at www.nevermindthebeasts.com and @marcus.silcock on Instagram