A Song for the Centipedes

Centipede Husk, by Neal Auch

My story A Song for the Centipedes was published in the latest issue of Three-Lobed Burning Eye. You can read the piece online for free, or else purchase a copy of the magazine if you prefer. It’s a very short folk horror piece that celebrates centipedes and motherhood, so check it out if any of that sounds interesting.

I suppose the work largely speaks for itself and I don’t have a lot to add, except to say that I intended the title to be taken more-or-less literally: not only does the narrative involve a scene of someone singing to centipedes, but the piece is also meant to be read as a song. This comes through in the rhythm of the prose (or at least I hope it does) and there’s a lot of intentional repetition in the sentence structures, which are meant to emulate the way that folk songs are often guilt around the repeated iteration of certain phrases and chord progressions.

The image that accompanies this piece also probably doesn’t require a lot of explanation or unpacking. It’s a close-up photograph of dead centipede, just one of many poor critters I found when replacing a lighting fixture a few months ago. I held onto the carcass, anticipating it might come in handy at some point. And, sure enough, when I sold this story I couldn’t help but take the opportunity to give immortalize this desiccated thing in art.

If you enjoyed either the image or the story, please feel free to share with anyone who might be interested. My next email is scheduled for August and will include several new still life images and a long essay about Brian Eno’s seminal ambient record Music for Airports. Stay tuned!