a rat king is crowned on the evening news
bird flu was back
the newsperson said
the hand
in his ass
coiled his lips around horse teeth
and kinked his vocal chords
like a summer hose
his mouth moved effortlessly
in its slackened state
spit accumulated on the lens
of the camera
only to be smeared
with a tissue
we could kind of still see his face
among the bubbles
but we could no longer see his lips move