Reach back
rip the chords out
Twisting still
the heart made metal

Pet the lamenting pulse
Laminate the pinch
of medling ****

Squeeze the words
till they scream
Exacerbate the agony
of bleeding dreams

Lightning comes down
in riffs
in sheets of rolling thunder
Banging heads asunder

Lifting decibels
Straining every fiber
Growing stronger
an electon collider

Till !

As depleted
as uranium
Nothing left
inside the cranium

Sat down under the
tree of solitude.


The air of  virtue
calmed the mind.


Life's restrictive
notion was set free.­


The soul radiated beauty.

I am not a kind person.

At times
I trickle interest in what
you are saying.

Mostly
I wait for
noon on a hot
day.

The breath of a
thousand words
cannot reach

the craters of
stones dug
without care.

I am not a kind person.

Where you were,
dying,
it was
the nurses who
compassioned you.

My reflection was
hidden in the
still pool of your

leaving brown eyes.

I reek with sadness,
with the
penance of being

a ;ń/. alone.



Caroline Shank

falling soft snowflakes
it's beauty touches my heart
softer than a kiss.
8/10/2022