today by amber rose

Knots, a thousand lights

Beaming at me and I am blinded

I sit here in this all whit e room with all white clothes

The lights dim down and darkness fills the sky

A bridge appears with waves crashing below

I cross it quickly as it leads to

An old stone castle siting above these treacherous waters

Looking down through holes in its floor boards

The mist of the colliding waves dampens my face

The castle begins to rock

Waves becoming too much for the deteriorating beams

Searching for stability as I run to the end of a hallway

Beneath my feet everything begins to crumble

I fall into the deep waters

Frozen by the ice cold waves

I drown

---------------------------------------------------

Poem of the Day: Habeas Corpus

BY BRIAN SWANN

Knots, a thousand lights, in  

   sheer dark, aimed at my window,  

tinny crystals, so mother dies  

   in my sleep. The snow turns  

coarse, goes out. An axe sounds  

   where I'd never heard an axe before.  

Breathing becomes dangerous. I can't  

   help it, making me her, even  

before I was born, her brain burning  

   out patterns I follow like will  

o' the wisps, sparks popping.  

   I put on heels and find I can balance,  

twist my spine, bend to get my seams  

   straight on my own, no one to  

call on, like she called me, sheer nylon  

   turning on sheer skin under my palms.  

I pull on the ratty musquash coat.  

   I have the body. I move off in it,  

eddying, trying to see who I am now.  

   I totter down the street thinking,  

one day he'll be sorry. And here I am.  

   Sorry. I watch her getting smaller  

up the road. I watch us both, till  

   nothing's all there is.