A Streak of Mean (Poem Written and Read by Margaret Anna Alice; Video by Nikolai N.)

A collaboration between Margaret Anna Alice (writing, voice) and Nikolai N. (video editing), this video was first published at Margaret Anna Alice Through the Looking Glass on October 31, 2025. The poem originally appeared as a bonus poem in the Substack post “Rites of the Tear-Downers” on September 22, 2023.

For more details, see:

• https://streakofmean.com
• https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/i/137255701/a-streak-of-mean
• https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/a-streak-of-mean-podcast

A Streak of Mean
by Margaret Anna Alice

Some people have a streak of mean
running through them.

A lightning bolt of vicious.
A circuitry of bile.

You feel the hum
of their electric fence
like a rattle on a snake.

You smell the stench
of their singed sacrifices
like a goat on a pyre.

You hear the crackling
of their voltage
like a fireworks finale.

You taste the metal
of their current
like a gadolinium dye.

You see the sparks
of their explosion
like a Peléan eruption.

All you can do is
fly

All you can do is
float

All you can do is
free yourself

Of the ground
before it’s ash.