Anne Shirley-Darcy

Anne Shirley-Darcy Jul 2021

sorrow

breaks into you

collapses your heart,
folds it like its flimsy

like a dollop of liquid

sloshing in its glass

the drink of the mourning

Anne Shirley-Darcy Jul 2021

shadows

webbed row-by-row,
hanging from pinpoints under the sky

buildings of inky grey and black, swirls
melting across their borders

a shadow of what-if events drained away

breathless, collapse on your back
muted, lolls your head,
hear the monitor
beep...
beep...
beep...

kicking and cursing
from behind the glasses hung over your heavy lidded eyes

Anne Shirley-Darcy Jul 2021

rockin

swish, goes the scraps into the trees
long and gone,
up to your knees

wrists twist, teeth clacks
snapping in dissonant
feelings of deepened anxiety

ropes of gum collect, spillage
springs from the lever, hurtling, slicing through the darkened sky
a second ticking post - (tiny fist smacking the dusty rusty button)

creaks of its broken joints drift in the air
"beep"
sings its sputtering e-battery, weakly
slowly, staggering
into the sleeping gathering arms of a mother
her broken form splayed crookedly within
the web of glistening pink

like the slimy throat of a monster

Anne Shirley-Darcy Mar 2021

muted night terrors

His glass-shard screams punctured the pulsing fleshy *****

creaking left to right from a rope of ****** handkerchiefs

streaks of fat and juice plunked onto a dilating glimmering circle

as a gasp-like sigh echoed softly around the chamber

–

reverberating heavily within the barren, carved-out cage

It dangled further down,

frenziedly pumping pomegranate-red blood through its narrowing bloated tunnels

yet seemingly lifeless

–

The boy retched, twisting in the air

skinny limbs flailing,

straining

swollen black veins

–

I awoke

He slumbered obliviously by my side

a opaque pool of drool collected on the crisp, white sheets

–

It was all for naught, a warning-infused dream

Anne Shirley-Darcy Feb 2021

flicking a snow-dusted twig

from up above, on the oak tree

twitching its delicate nose
from down below, swatting at a frozen leaf

squirrels

Anne Shirley-Darcy Feb 2021

Dusk Sighs Softly Once More

Young palm fronds peer over the fairy-glass waves of the turtle tarn

Parallel golden strips lowers themselves into the mirror pond

Not a ripple in sight- a mask-draped chelonia sleeps inside

This is a sijo (similar to a haiku).

*Explanation: The first stanza's palm fronds are probably not actual palm fronds, but the plants looked a lot like one!

The second stanza depicts a real, but odd phenomenon in which the sun's rays move vertically downward.

The third stanza is about a turtle, or more specifically, an endangered sea turtle (which is a type of chelonia), that had died after eating a littered mask. Fun fact: the sea turtle's scientific name is chelonia mydas. The mask is "draped" over the turtle like a makeshift shroud. The carcass would have polluted the waters, which explains why there are no other turtles or any other living creatures.

Anne Shirley-Darcy Dec 2020

haunted

globs of glass
twist and swivel in the sunlight

a smattering dozen clear pearls slip
across the slicked floor,
A thin frail twig bursts between the cracks of the dusty corner
emerging amidst sharp concrete and mist

a cold frost nips a bird on the beak,
whistling tales of cold teas and shimmery scarlet-entwined trees

Rooftops exhale, as ash whispers into the dawn sky
a sphere rolls across uneven slabs of dyed wood
before cracking, shattering
As three breaths sigh