Entanglement

Tom Mannion

On the Platform

I saw you in the train window

I saw her too

You saw nothing your eyes were closed her fingers tangled in your hair

The train pulled free

The sway and screech receding down the line

I stood stolid on the platform forgotten coffee in my hand

Looking at the hole that had been your train

Wondering how long you have been gone.

Plague Doctor

So here in the shining city on the hill we watched the broad plain with its shifting grasses always thinking the trouble would arrive at the gate announcing itself.

But no, it crept in in ones and twos broken glass lungs etched in X-rays seeping in under the gate.

We could not fathom the wave of misery that broke us open.

The burbling cry of wet breath that choked the air filling every corner.

We wailed for answers.

The plague doctor came surveying the heaps of dead plying us with platitudes and potions crying “Let them inject bleach!”

Pushing out the dead early in the morning I saw him shambling down the hill.

Empty eyes behind his mask and blood on his hands.

-Skye

Kuutar

Shimmering moth dusted moon maiden

Her skirts spun from the last of setting sun at the nether of day

Dripping dew tossing up a wake of mist obscuring stars

Night soft and certain bows beneath her slippered feet

I sleep her light upon my cheek knowing nothing of her innocence.

"Moth Queen" by anniestegg.

Virtuous Love

Jean Ducamps, Allegory of Virtuous Love

Image Source: Brassai, circa1946 Source: letaobloquista

Brassai Roaming Paris

After the churning of buildings and bodies After the round ups of 75,000 Jewish citizens After the ovens to the east stopped their burning

The streets were swept The babies boomed And lovely ladies once again wore real silk stockings

You saw them stop for moment

The baby was sleeping

The headlines were posted Every word shouting LARGE FONT BLACK and BOLD

“Francais! Reveillez-vous!” “Aux Hommes d’Ordre et de Bon Sens”

She gave his arm a Contented almost sleepy Squeeze

Politics was politics again Life was life again

The baby woke up and began to cry.

-Skye

Source: Winter tree and three crows, by Takeuchi Seiho (1890).

Haiku- In Winter Trees

Crows weigh on branches All wearing winter twilight Chattering with me.

-Skye

In Deep

One night in a bath of stars Skin slick dripping starlight

I let myself down below the water

The burn to breathe casting star shards Beyond closed eyes

Then there is just me on the edge of the universe heaving breath into the void -Skye

artwork | Ishii Nobuo

Source: visualstatic101

Tides

Mooring lost Battered upon the sharp reef I could only be counted as flotsam A bottle with no message Driven out into a howling sea Without a cry

Stranded in this bottle I lost the sea Peering out through the wavy glass I saw nothing I felt nothing So fearful was the loss

The bottle has long broken There are bits of sea glass That can’t cut anyone Even me Scattered now Among my bones

You ask me to examine them now These old hurts and betrayals I see only soft light The kind you find both at dawn and sunset

We are all subject to the tide I suppose, It steals our voice and brings it back again.

-Skye

Image Source: Kurrusu

HAIKU- Bite Me

Crash into me hard Pull my soft lip with your teeth Taste my blood on you.

-Skye