{"id":4131,"date":"2026-08-16T17:18:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T17:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/?page_id=4131"},"modified":"2026-08-16T17:18:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T17:18:03","slug":"blood-in-the-water-excites-them-to-madness-by-jackson-benson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/blood-in-the-water-excites-them-to-madness-by-jackson-benson\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201c\u2018Blood in the water excites them to madness\u2019\u201d by Jackson Benson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2014Theodore Roosevelt<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The garbage disposal gurgles
with each hunk and scrap
fed into the drain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I imagine
piranhas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

chomping our leftovers.
Razor teeth rip through gobs
of pot roast and potatoes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a whirlpool
of refuse,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

red-bellies ravenous for dreck.
Don\u2019t people tumble out of boats
into schools of fanged appetite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, actually, that\u2019s bunk.
A shoal won\u2019t waste<\/p>\n\n\n\n

their energies skeletonizing a bum
backstroking in the Amazon.
Not when fruits, leaves, and even carrion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

are as plentiful
in the waters<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as skins, rinds, and chicken bones
in this churning mincer. And what if
blood in a river did excite a frenzy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m no scavenger.
I am scared<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of needing sharp teeth, of scouring
flood plains and food pantries
alone, of watching the cow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

touch the water
and not caring<\/p>\n\n\n\n

what people see me do. Food bits goop
to the drain-mouth. I\u2019ll flick the switch
off and push the slop down the chamber,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

slipping my hand
into the absent sound<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of a whirring blade, a gnashing knife,
somehow always thankful,
in spite of what I know,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get my fingers
back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Jackson Benson<\/em><\/strong> (They\/Them) has poems published or forthcoming in <\/em>Raleigh Review, Artemis Journal, Asterales, storySouth, and <\/em>The Greensboro Review. A graduate of the Creative Writing Program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, they currently reside in Cary, NC.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2014Theodore Roosevelt The garbage disposal gurgleswith each hunk and scrapfed into the drain. I imaginepiranhas chomping our leftovers.Razor teeth rip through gobsof pot roast and potatoes, a whirlpoolof refuse, red-bellies ravenous for dreck.Don\u2019t people tumble out of boatsinto schools of fanged appetite? Well, actually, that\u2019s bunk.A shoal won\u2019t waste their energies skeletonizing a bumbackstroking in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “\u201c\u2018Blood in the water excites them to madness\u2019\u201d by Jackson Benson”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9568,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4131","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4132,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4131\/revisions\/4132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}