Taught she was beautiful before humility could root Indoctrinated by her birth on a pedestal too high She was an innocent sapling set on a dying course Abscission befell her heart to protect the whole As people shed from her life, more then pruned away Sacrificing her sanity in autothysic carnage All that endures isContinue reading “Autumnal eternity”
Category Archives: fiction
She’ll never know
Wonderstruck, she beheld her kingdom Incomprehensible, the path of her ascendancy In the sempiternal pause of a heartbeat A king’s inscrutable command for his princess, or a father’s incoherent rhapsody for his daughter She’ll never know Her two greatest loves vanquished in a breath, and now she looks out upon the other A commoner, noContinue reading “She’ll never know”
Ophilia
Cecilia paused. She could never remember their names. Perhaps she is never told; perhaps she is made to forget. Briefly wondering how many have come and gone, she then decides that names are ultimately inconsequential, before lamenting sotto voce, “What’s in a name…” They are only labels. She’d been given many labels by the therapists,Continue reading “Ophilia”
Goodbye
Her wordless withdrawal was swallowed by the groan of the closing door; creeping up his spine, it delivered a haunting death rattle to his ear After the door’s throes died away, after the last echo of its final lament, he whispered, in eloquence only brevity has mastered, Goodbye art: Der Blick by Edward B. Gordon
Flabbergasted
He stood flabbergasted in the open entryway, darkening a threshold he never again thought he’d cross, frantically searching the room with as yet adjusted eyes Backlit by dusk before it drew its curtain closed, silhouettes of deadheaded roses were strewn upon the table, casting long, hateful shadows of short, loving memories The censorious scissors layContinue reading “Flabbergasted”
Ragdoll
See the words it writes, interest piqued What says things such as this, in this way Tentatively, first from afar, engage this Ragdoll Watch it, jab it, pick it up for examination Unabashed, no concern for ramification Curiosity overwhelms, it’s such an unusual Ragdoll Does it communicate, try it, see what happens It does! ItsContinue reading “Ragdoll”
They say he finds
Abrading his eyelids with callous frustration, was enough to draw him away from a particularly potent painting of suicidal ideation Pain has that effect, but it shares the burden of cause, as well; whether physically or emotionally, it buries its claws quick-deep in both Two sides of an allusive illusion eluding elucidation They say, ifContinue reading “They say he finds”
Ceremony
He hears her before he sees her, garrulously babbling from inside the drive-thru window Poor decisions, or unfortunate circumstances, unceremoniously brought her to their employ; skills lost to anachrony – or having none to speak of – she had no choice, she has to live… He supposes She was macilent, nearly emaciated, with grey croppedContinue reading “Ceremony”
Welcome mat
Her serrated scissor smile bares auriferous caps and barely concealed rubies on artificially plump lips, as she pours pyrite pleasantries over late night, lamplit sidewalks and creeping, drive-by lechery She’s made threats of paper dolls to ensnare desperate secret keepers into paying for secrets and keeping nothing else, and spit out flurries of giant snowflakesContinue reading “Welcome mat”
Nun the wiser
She expected the spider’s web to shimmer, having felt the draft an instant before. Nothing more than a peripheral afterthought, as she prepares her Rosary, in the heat of mid-afternoon. As she prepares to pray for him. Her cell is modestly decorated in passing time and empty space. A single bed, made each morning withContinue reading “Nun the wiser”
Is another man’s treasure
Slip through the night he must, challenging the darkness in corner and alleyway, twixt apothecary and bakery, ‘tween hovel and cesspit. I must embrace the space where shadows lurk, if I’m to quest successfully this night. …he whispers to himself, knowing his treasure is nigh. He pauses to hearken for a rumble of the dragonContinue reading “Is another man’s treasure”
The forest path
He once walked the forest’s path beneath its saber arch, listening to the march of crisp, falling leaves in the distance, electrified by the banshee wails of crickets keening through the trees, lulled into serenity by the songbird’s reverie Then from a voluptuous horizon, came she; variegating his dwelling in silvery pendalogues, poetical prisms, andContinue reading “The forest path”
The gambler
Gimme your damn wallet Said the middle-aged pyknic, in a slow and deep cadence. A clearly edacious black man, with an air of dumbfounded innocence. His pinguid complexion bled rancid stains beneath rolls and rotund. While a mayfly’s attention echoed in his cleanly shaven dome. Gimme your damn wallet A macilent, black youth wearing aContinue reading “The gambler”
Tant mieux
She stitches her lips with little white lies Then tastes wet iron, as the silvered needles sway like windchimes Beneath her noisome, tarnished words Harboring an appetency for secrets and deceit Her euphonious whiplash would beguile callers with playful dispraisals from sanguine smiles Then she’d lie awake in her chamber, counting the bruises; accompanied onlyContinue reading “Tant mieux”
Abrupt
Her evanescent sanity An abruption of the psyche, hovered overhead Dispersed in the brume of reality’s abyss Maddening madnesses corralling sadnesses As she surreptitiously clawed at her arm A misstep bound to betoken suspicious eyes They can’t discover, they can’t suspect Lest her arms be girded and out of reach She knew the game, sheContinue reading “Abrupt”
Rivulet
Perhaps an artisan’s chisel and hammer may deconstruct the carefully concealed façade Revealing rivulets of imperfection mayhemically scarring limestone The chert, befouling exquisite slate by its mere existence and presence Swirling impurities metamorphosed from pressurized, complicatized layers A frantic fractality of feints fragmented for misdirection and survival To some, presumptive beauty in stagnant veining, foreverContinue reading “Rivulet”
Elaborate
“Good morning, honey…” He was awakened by her quick good morning kiss Just before receiving a second, from the hastily opened curtains Both of them beamed, though he couldn’t divine which was brighter But it seems they each were happy he was there, which always puzzled him She stood briefly in front of the window,Continue reading “Elaborate”
Bestow
Thank you for the smile, can you tell me where you got it? Oh, it’s yours? No wonder you give it so freely; it’s beautiful. What a fortunate twist of fate, that you were bestowed such a gift. Many are not so lucky, that is to include me. Most are merely masks; insincere attempts forContinue reading “Bestow”
Vague
Hidden within his egoic forest, facing a barren laund, he struggles to recall the name of each wilted dream he sees through the rapidly forming mist In his pocket, his left hand lets the last seeds of hope slip carelessly through deadened fingers, before ever having a chance to blossom; vague portents each of failuresContinue reading “Vague”
Company
The inkwell tumbles over welkin and wit; her seething susurrations invite slumberous disregard The puissant voluptuary, the sadist, the con, swallows me with magmatic lips, melting resolve and self-control Fervid angst transudes through saucers into lacustrine stains and chilling horripilation; restrained by fists of silk and ichor ropes She chases me through my tenebrous id,Continue reading “Company”
Genie
They wish for riches to bring happiness Some want power or love in their fate But I know for me I’ll never be free So alone in my lantern I wait They use me without thought or feeling With me they don’t try to relate Using me thrice To win a roll of the diceContinue reading “Genie”
The fart catcher
Lightning split the sky over a secluded, Philadelphia country road. Autumnal sycamores and ironwoods embraced the winding route. Swollen with deep oranges and dirty yellows, they burst into glossy, earthen watercolors with each strobe of the darkness. A midnight blue, 1922 Ford Model T sits almost motionless under the driving rain. In the middle ofContinue reading “The fart catcher”
Deplete
He couldn’t help but watch them They weren’t trying to hide He could even hear them In pieces, anyway, on the corner The twenty-somethings The woman was beautiful Although, not in the raw, carefree, subtle, palm tree way Hers was a manufactured beauty A skyscraper, an architectural wonder reflecting a brilliant sun But not theContinue reading “Deplete”
Signs
The incessant clank of the street sign was agitating She needed to think It was dusk, and the unpredictable breeze with the anticrepuscular rays, provided an epiphanic backdrop Standing barefoot and out of breath, she grasped the annoying post for balance Her torn skirt fluttered in the evening zephyr, before adhering again to her sweat-streakedContinue reading “Signs”
Froth
She just wanted to dance Even without music, she’d lose herself in the motion and emotion Her dancing was the music, her body the instrument And there was only one job for her in this anachronistic, one road, wasteland Dancing for men Men with wives who couldn’t do better Men trying to recapture verility orContinue reading “Froth”
Luminescent
There she lies, my beautiful wife Or should I say, beautiful mom? I guess we should get used to hearing that She’s glowing, luminescent perfection It was an exquisite day to be out exploring with her A sentiment that must have been shared by everyone, as it was a hustling street, on a bustling beatContinue reading “Luminescent”
Haul
he sat in darkness, his darkness warmed by the seductive dancing of firelight, as its fingers caress his rufescent cheeks a trace of cognac coalesced in the corner of his glass, pulling itself toward the diminishing flames that reflect upon its crystalline surface mesmerized, he watches his long journey unfold in the fireplace, absorbed inContinue reading “Haul”
Ink
The pen hovered above the page, her hand trembling from the weight of its unwritten words; befallen to torpidity, only her tears could write upon the parchment, everything the ink never would – ❖ – Empty to others, he read the tear-stained confession found rapaciously protecting her heart; and without a pen, he responded onContinue reading “Ink”
