war, war, war, war
a taste of blood
a whiff of cash
left em hooked
they need more

war, war, war, war
everyone waves a flag
until the theater’s
outside your front door

actors, red and blue ties
behind doors, clink glasses
blood sacrifices leave
rubble, dirt, dust, ashes

Generations
Hatred’s Echo
Administrations come
Administrations go

There's a dance
Dynamic
When you live
With people
Up and down
And maybe
Right and left
All around
A trade off
In noise
And smells
And habits and such
So many come and go
In this grand rabbit hutch.

I stumbled upon it—
this ruin, veiled in ivy,
its ribs of stone strangled
by nature’s lace.

A withered door hangs
on one iron thread—
the last breath of smiths
dressed in oxide.

Fractured silence beckons
childish will to explore.
Danger wrapped in lichen,
blight decays the frame.

Dense fog dulls the raven’s
black wings—set the tone.
Moss-laden windows,
sinew stripped from bone.

To be continued....

By Darren Wall

We play on the corner till the streetlights thin
and stars pinprick a corkboard sky.

Dinner is anytime: bologna on white;
Kool-Aid cut thin with tap.

No hurry home unless for the news -we don’t.
We want what’s coming, not what’s been.

Paper fortune tellers flutter open / close.
She writes the answers first.

Lift one flap: your dog dies. Another: a prince.
Another: best party in town, no dress required.

He lifts a flap: her name-
“meant for you,” her sister whispers.

Then rain- blue-lined paper caves;
ink loosens, futures wash mid-fold.

At This Street & That Road, a drunk witch
swears Saturn and Jupiter will make us rich.

She forgets conjunctions come every twenty years.
Lunch money turns to lottery slips.

Rounding the corner, the futures
sign their names where ours should go.

Rounded by salt and
Water rolling from
Tide to tide

Inviolate cipher of
All time
Fallen from molten skies

At the beginning

Holding all
Within your elliptical
Mystical mound
Of stone

Children
exist in a place where
they can only receive

They don't refuse gifts
out of self centered pride

Such are the ones who seek the Kingdom of Heaven

For unless they become children of God they will never enter

He was in love with me,
He always found time for me,
No excuses ,
No broken promises,
A steadfast rock to hold on to.
18/8/2025