By: Donna Dallas

Meet on the Edge

Of the bay
at the marigold sunset
as the old man walks his pug dog
and mumbles under his breath

Three cars sit parked in anticipation
as the illustrious sun
drops itself
into the oil streaked water

Three cars with lovers
hands entwined
as dusk unfolds the darkness
I’m here waiting
for your beat up truck
to swing in

I’ve got a pocket full
of sea glass
I’ve got sandflies
draped around me
a full golden bowl
of liquid sun
oozing into the bay
at the edge
of nowhere else
I’d want to be

Stampede

The coffee shop quiet
8:16am I’ve got a stampede of thoughts
I watch pink and plaid hustle by
what did they have for breakfast?
what lover is left longing
or fulfilled?
and did I feed the dogs
or just rush out into daybreak
thinking only of myself?

Smarter people walk by
going to really smart jobs
and I write it down
that woman’s garish black eyeliner
stumbling over her Louboutin’s
the 6’8” man with a fez hat
red as the heart held in my fist
oozing doubt and denial
bursting from the tightness
of my veined fingers crushing it

I think I’m alone
but my head and my heart
offend me daily
and together
we innocently murder
the possibilities of each new day

Don’t Ask Me to Choose

Today’s dreary life
over yesterday’s violent
yet beautiful
roller coaster

Looked down from that height of insanity
and could have stayed forever

Don’t want to choose
this wilting willow tree
barely alive
within the rich mulch
it struggles to hold

I’ll sit under it
for an hour or so
stare at blank beauty
choose to be nothing
yet the tick is real

Don’t give me a choice
keep pulling me
from this hole I’ve dug
since birth

Me and Mr. Willow go way back
I picked this little sucker
haphazardly planted it
fecked it off as I do to everything pure

Nothing left to do
but find another roller coaster to ride this out
Mr. Willow, I’ll be back
and you’ll be here
my only tree
a simple root
of many choices

###

Donna Dallas has appeared in a plethora of journals, most recently Lothlorien, Beatnik Cowboy, Horror Sleaze Trash and Fevers of the Mind.  She is the author of Death Sisters, her legacy novel, published by Alien Buddha Press. She has two chapbooks, Smoke and Mirrors and Megalodon. Donna has served on the editorial team of Red Fez and NYQ.