Ardath Bey

The glint between the barely parted 
Eyelids first, like distant stars,
Or candles swamped in seas of tar, 
Grows brighter slowly — small, twinned sparks
Fanned by the words a man has started 
Speaking; and though the dusty heart 
No longer beats, the dry lips part
In an awful moan, devoid of art 
Or meaning; he moves; the other darts 
For safety, screaming — it isn’t far 
Enough; more screams; the screen goes dark. 

Lohse

Abandoned in unplanned-for haste, 
As if before a storm, 
The houses, he would later say, 
Had seemed to him “still warm.”

Half-eaten meals congealed on plates;
The children’s toys lay strewn
Haphazardly across the floors
Of freshly silenced rooms. 

He took the silverware and tossed
The Torahs in the fire.
He took the paintings from the walls 
And left some hooks and wire. 

He even took the furniture, 

The better to enjoy 
The skill of the Old Masters as
The owners were destroyed. 

The Gnat

There is some kind of gnat 
Drowning in what 
To it must seem a vat 
Of wine, but which in fact 
Is merely a glass, 
And half full at that. 
Half empty, perhaps, 
If you are the gnat. 

Earthworks

They lie atop
The giant mounds 
Of earth like giant 
Crumbling crowns 
Upon the furrowed,
Weathered brows
Of ancient kings
Who lie here now,
Beneath the hills,
And wear them still. 

Rejection

Thank you for your interest 
In Tomorrow’s Free Domain. 
Unfortunately, everything 
We publish is the same 
Old garbage, and we didn’t 
Recognize your name. 
Please consider paying us 
To submit your work again. 

~ The Editors 

Orbital Resonance

I saw the rings of Saturn once —
Albeit from a distance:
A record etched with grooves to which 
The universe was listening. 

The circle past the dead wax lacked 
A label or a name, 
Though neither was it strictly speaking 
Absolutely plain. 

It must have been an opera 
Or something else thematic
If even from so far away 
It sounded so dramatic. 

Doom Scrolling

These birds lined up upon the fence 
In different attitudes,
Presented as they are against 
Papyrus sunset hues,
Compose a vaguely ominous, 
Anonymous cartouche.