Becoming Grateful for All the Dead Things

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i am nowhere—
where are you?

hidden in an asylum
with pills & posies?

let’s distract ourselves
from worldly horrors

& collapse into the bed—
       quaint enclosure,

chrysalis me in the fitted sheet—
is there a butterfly

after the metamorphosis,
or just a dead bleating thing?




Appears in house as a cemetery (Rebel Satori Press, 2026)

Audio: Josh Tvrdy reads john compton’s “Becoming Grateful for All the Dead Things”

john compton (b. 1987) is a gay poet. he lives in a nonexisting town in kentucky which still holds its name, with his husband josh; their dogs, cats, & mice. his latest books are: my husband holds my hand because i may drift away & be lost forever in the vortex of a crowded store" published with Flowersong Press (dec 2024); & house as a cemetery published with Rebel Satori Press (march 2026).

Instagram | Order house as a cemetery

“Becoming Grateful for All the Dead Things…