By: RC deWinter

sick day 

burning with fever
burning with lust
sweat drips
sizzling on molten sheets

ghost spiders crawl corridors of wet skin
raising gooseflesh and memories of rusty lips

dragged to the cul-de-sac where desire

waits for the next bus to oblivion

i squirm to find a cool spot on this tattered altar
as your voice climbs over the hill

whispering you’re going to like me
as your laugh wraps me
in the silence of bureaucracy

###

monition

look here
take a good look
before you say
you want me

this is
no tiny hole
in my heart
it’s a crater
that cuts
clear through
to the soul

i have
nothing pretty
to tell you

like the girl
in that old fable
my words are

an ugly fairytale
toads & vipers
born of pain
betrayal loss

think twice then
before reaching for
this hand

a damaged heart
and nightmare
bedtime stories
are included
free of charge
in this package

it’s not all roses

###

saltwater morning

too dark gray to be awake
but someone
and that someone would be me
left the window open
in a midnight 19°
just a breath of fresh air

lying down
forgetting
and a very cold room
with a stiff sea breeze

turbulent night of forgotten dreams
quilt on the floor
shivering
in this too dark gray to be awake
in much less than 19°

you’ve woken me up

and i realize
it’s that special thing
open eyes
and you’re not here

salt water on the breeze
blowing into through the window
pouring from the eyes
in the much less than 19°

in the middle of winter
with a salt water breeze
in this too dark gray to be awake

###

now you see me

i’m writing my autobiography

one poem at a time
i lay my life out in words
undressing layer by layer

until

(exaggerated here
diminished there
omissions
additions
conditions
partitions
sly sprinklings
of prevarication
inserted randomly
just for the hell of it)

like a molting bird
my plumage scatters
even as i stand singing
in this cage before you
feathers falling
in a slow blizzard
of confusion

it is left to you
to put the pieces in place
and make of me what you will
i may surprise but never disappoint

what is truth?
we each are fitted
with unique oculars
through which we fragment
and facet and filter
that which stands plain
before the world

the magic of imagination
makes beautiful liars of us all

###

RC deWinter’s poetry is anthologized in New York City Haiku (NY Times, 2017), Uno: A Poetry Anthology (Verian Thomas, 2002), Cowboys & Cocktails: Poetry from the True Grit Saloon (Brick Street Poetry, April 2019), Havik (Las Positas College, May 2019),Castabout Literature (Dantoin/Hilgart, June 2019) The Flickering Light (Down in the Dirt, June 2019), in print in 2River View, Down in the Dirt, Genre Urban Arts, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, Pilcrow & Dagger, Pink Panther Magazine, Scarlet Leaf Review, The New York Times and in numerous online literary journals.