By: Theresa C. Gaynord

Kiribati

The sun rose, carrying the burn
over the previous night’s black
stare. The sea took several
breaths as the land receded
and sank into bloodthirsty
depths, spitting out sideways
lapping water from spinning
whirlpools underneath. The clock
continued its rhythm as arguments
intensified, never reaching the
periods of their sentences, while
darkness descended with a vengeance
once again, drowning trembling
trees, wildlife, and villagers; even
those who believed in magick,
and had left spiritual offerings
to the gods.

The climate summons every
last bit of power as it changes
and shifts to opposite sides
in the celestial order of things,
while man watches silently
the painted, cursed, and
arbitrary divide of a fleeting
geopolitical structure as
it drowns brutally, pointless,
into the inevitability of nothingness;
into an agonizing death.

###

The Hero

A waving hand to a blind eye
is communication in its typical
catatonic state and I see the
sardonic smiles that mute the
voices, chuckling with fury and
hatred at the convictions of
others who defend Mother Earth,
breaking the bond, spluttering
blood of inhuman power, with
stoic facade.

In the sunlight, a starving polar
bear’s manic eyes glare at the loss
of habitat, its open jaws unhinging
a sound that echoes back to
gnashed teeth, without hope,
without purpose. There is a hero
to the darkness inside the beast,
a call of sorts to restore balance
in the world, immortalized by scars
and stars, in full glorious bloom
across smiling and crying faces
alike.

###

The Cheetah Witch

In its cubicle a cheetah stares
at me with a cold Cyclopean
eye as I watch her through
the glass of the enclosure,
and I think about her shouting
vehement curses to the wind
regarding the savageness of
conservation
in a dying world.

###

Theresa likes to write about matters of self-inflection and personal experiences. She likes to write about matters of an out-of body, out-of-mind state, as well as subjects of an idyllic, pagan nature and the occult. Theresa writes horror, as well as concrete gritty and realistic dramas. Theresa is said to be a witch and a poet, (within the horror writing community) and she has been published in a number of magazines, ezines, anthologies and books throughout the years. She is a former elementary school, a psychic medium – reader and advisor.