Spend enough time in 

the dark and your soul begins

to adjust to it 

The chrysanthemums 

encrusted in ice still have 

a semblance of charm 

Adjust the lens and 

learn what you thought was the root 

goes much much deeper 

The train hurtles through 

the night and in the darkness  

ahead someone waits 

Bitterness may be 

what the recipe needs when

things are just too sweet 

Ghosts come a-haunting  

at four in the morning when

sleep evaporates 

 Halloween seems so

staid as real monsters roam the

streets with bloody hands 

Broken sidewalks still

provide a path but beware 

or you might stumble 

Burn the effigies 

to remind them who has the 

ultimate power 

Shrink not from the hard

situations that make you 

squirm for they are key 

An explosion of

color is the season's last 

gasp before its end 

A postcard arrived 

from a ghost I once knew as

me (a memory). 

Place a carnation

in the barrel of a gun 

and be unafraid 

So decisively 

divisive they are, forcing

us farther apart  

The journey's end is

as meaningful as the time 

spent a traveling 

Broken heroes crawl

towards the finish line bloodied 

to receive faint praise 

Totemic objects 

no longer stir the soul but

twist your insides round 

The smoky wind 

sings a song of the old times

before dying out

Don't break the silence

but let it fill you up and

perhaps enlighten 

Bread broken that's still

untouched but don't ask for the

crumbs or face pure scorn 

Wake up in a new 

land your brain still stuck in the

world you left behind 

Lost in a house of

mirrors these spectral wraiths still

wander aimlessly 

They ask for signs and 

sign are given but with closed 

eyes the signs are missed 

A sour wind blows the

dead leaves with a sound like rats

skittering away 

 

Lotus eaters reach

into the darkness hoping 

to claw back some joy

Scenery blurs by 

too fast for beauty's breath, just

a whirling blast of light 

Once so vital, green,

and bright now disintegrates 

with the slightest touch

Dazzling or dull shifts 

with a change of light or view 

so you should stay put  

Starving opened mouthed 

too busy shouting slogans 

you forget to eat

They call it bloodless 

but rivers run red amid 

the terrified cries 

The merry-go-round 

spins out of control with one

way off, that is, jump