Page 33 - Solstice Art & Literary Magazine 2020
P. 33
THREE POEMS FOR FEAR IN THE DARK
NINA TEKKEY
WAITING AT
THE CROSSWALK
Behind the clouds
A million eyes
Watch in sulfurous lamps Diluted phone light
Gripping the concrete and tar A hundred fingers of gunmetal Gouge the planet
Still under strange breath
I fear and they don’t
I beg and they won’t
As in that moment
The light stays red
I’m released to await eternity Knowing that only I
Will die without meaning
Let go from the love of man
DINNER AFTER 10PM
The girl beside me
Spills words with wine
As I’m wrung out
Full of holes and endless noise My muscles match the stoplights My hair the chain-links
Watch out watch out watch out For terrifying heralds with horns Signal the arrival of the devil Without corporeal form
But whose horrible chariot I taste In the shout of cars
And sinister stars
That lick me back
Wear through fleece
Like worried thumbs
FAST DRIVE FROM CHICAGO
The car is no solace
As cement giants
Beat in the windows There are no words only 80 miles per hour
Can’t outrun the pavement that Even with laughter
I remain unheard and
Though our legs brush
You can’t protect me
A shucked oyster
Am I feasted upon
By a swift bubbling night As it soaks through glass And cradles my world
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