RC deWinter Profile picture
Apr 17 4 tweets 1 min read
#poetry

Fool’s Errand
Sleepless in the clutch of sorrow’s claws
I got up, dressed for winter
and went out to the garage to find a spade.
Knowing the ground was frozen
but needing the almost impossible labor
of breaking it up to tire myself enough
to catch the ferry to Dreamland.

Under the gimlet eye of the sickle moon
I lifted shallow spadefuls of uncooperative earth.
Flinging messy chunks over my shoulder
until I was exhausted and ready to meet the Sandman
on Nepenthe’s wharf, where I could bargain
for the temporary sweetness of the impossible.

But the bastard never showed,
though I heard his mocking laughter
echoing in that dark tunnel
like a punishment for my every sin.
I cursed him in the effluvia
of the disappointed and then, kneeling,
drank the dark and bitter water of salvation.

© 2022 RC deWinter
Published in Fleas on the Dog, Issue 11, April 2022 Image

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More from @RCdeWinter

Apr 19
#poetry

Dancing Master

I know you dance in the old way
hardly anyone does anymore –
smooth and graceful,
holding your partner close,
twirling at just the right time.

I, a child of the fifties,
vaguely remember the fox trot,
the polka and swing your partner do-si-do.
I might be able to fake the box step
as violins sob out the wavelets
of the Blue Danube, but you
will have to lead, always.
And how I long for you to do just that,
extending your hand, lifting me from my chair,
taking to the floor to teach me civilization,
as I, head buried in your neck, inhale
the grace and beauty of a time I never lived.
Read 4 tweets
Apr 19
#poetry

communion

let's go my darling on a quiet walk to nowhere to everywhere
the world awaits no need for words
we'll simply be together
in time in space in love
the world awaits no need for words
as we wander exploring the fierce beauty of this garden
in time in space in love
we'll know the perfection of circles completed
as we wander exploring the fierce beauty of this garden
fingers entwined in love knots of forever
we'll know the perfection of circles completed
in the silence of devotion
Read 4 tweets
Apr 19
#poetry

Ablution

The memory of almost-scalding water baptizes me with its melody;
the shower is one of my favorite but little-visited refuges from the noise of nonsense.
I leave my skin unwashed for two days, three, sometimes more.
This gives me an excuse for extended indulgence.
The shower is one of my favorite but little-visited refuges from the noise of nonsense.
I’m waxed with the accretions of many days and nights.
This gives me an excuse for extended indulgence;
I need not defend the time spent there.
I’m waxed with the accretions of many days and nights,
hot passion unspent; the one for whom it's meant unavailable.
I need not defend the time spent there,
in the bed of imagination, where the impossible becomes my reality.
Read 5 tweets
Apr 19
#poetry

a piece of you

when i walk the damp sand where the sea kisses the shore
trying not to add my own salt to the cold green water
i see you in every wavelet washing over
my feet
when i get home and throw myself into a lawn chair
light up inhale exhale and stare up at the dappled sky
your smile floats in the smoke soaring on
the breeze
when i stand in the kitchen throwing dinner together
instead of letting things pile up to be washed later
i clean up as i go and there you are in the corner by the
fridge nodding
Read 6 tweets
Apr 19
#poetry

After Compiègne

I
Lightning doesn't strike twice. Not this kind.
I’ll never be debriefed. Not in this life.
I gorged myself on fairy tales
for far too long.
I’ll never be debriefed. Not in this life.
Waiting for a happy ending, I held out a wickless candle
for far too long,
daring to hope for more.
Waiting for a happy ending, I held out a wickless candle,
an unpretty little girl
daring to hope for more.
Now I suit up, the faceless rivers retreating.
Read 7 tweets
Apr 18
Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess with three handsome suitors.

Each suitor tried bus best to charm the princess, but the princess could not choose which handsome suitor to marry.
The princess did love ping pong, though, and decided to test the suitors' love.
She summoned all three to the grand hall and said, “Whoever brings me the most ping pong balls shall have my hand in marriage - this is my test of love!" Each suitor went off to meet the challenge.
The first suitor came back a few weeks later with a parade of horse-drawn carriages filled with ping pong balls. The convoy stretchedas far as the eye could see. Altogether they amounted to a million ping pong balls and the princess was impressed.
Read 6 tweets

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