“Icky Loves Katrina”

Ichabod

never caught on.

I mean the name,

not some dimwit

doing the opposite

in Simon Says.

The fact it starts

with Ich

might have a little

something to do with it.

No one would envisage

Rock Hudson’s

doppelgänger.

In Hebrew, the moniker

means “no glory.”

Kind of a piss-

poor way to start

a budding life.

At school they called

you Icky; asked you if

you wanted pumpkin pie.

Its shoving in your face

which burst their seams, only served

to aggravate your acne.

On Hallows Eve

they dressed you

as a horse, taunting that

Katrina hates your guts,

forcing you to neigh—

bend & offer rides

to all the fattest kids

in class. Even the teachers

chortled.

You staggered

through the forest

after dark. The one that scared

you shitless, hoping the ghouls

would never find you—

not the haunting by the dead,

but the spectres of the living.

They kill you in a manner

which the departed never can.

Laughing you’d be less ugly if

you didn’t have a head;

your gaping, sickly smile

when you wept.

Andreas Gripp

November 18, 2025

Daniel Eskridge