Literary Nonfiction. DARKMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN is a lyric essay about metaphors, the self, family, death, language, and art. It speaks to the unspoken, speaks what we think but are too afraid to say aloud. DARKMOUTH attempts to understand sadness while poking breathing holes in it too. If sadness moves inside of us in dark fluent waves, DARKMOUTH attempts (& fails beautifully) to ride them, to rise above them, to keep from sinking beneath. It feels and sings like an epic poem.