grows because of radiation, rather than in spite of it 

like cherries or blood clots ebbing, forward 

project & metabolise into plasmid-purple carpet 

fibres, fusing the felt underbelly to floorboards 

& coming away like deliquesced skin. Mutualistic 

relationship, mycorrhizae bacteria & muffled 

woodwork. Sepia-septic & somber, dried over 

by the three-headed fan, its roots in the mildew-

logged ceiling. The entry wound haemorrhages 

a microcosm of tar & live wire. Corroded,

marbles sit silent as blue velvet curtains beat

against plaster in radioactive frenzy, the wallpaper soaked

& bruised with cheap lighting. Choking into eye contact 

with the mounted taxidermy, antlers threatening

to pierce through empty trophy cabinets & palindromic

patterns burnt onto the walls—calling for child or hysteric 

mother’s eye to contort them into faces. Dotted orchard

of wilted calcium retched over orange carpet tufts, 

resembling the shed’s rusted door or deer carcass— 

things we associate with father. Mold relishing in itself, scabbing

interiors, peeling to reveal heart rot in the resinous pith of

our home—its sap irradiated and fester-fluorescent.