Illusion

A Poem

Hello! Thank you for reading my Substack. I love comments about my work, so please feel free to comment. Let me know if you write poetry or short stories (or even novels) - I would be delighted to read some.

Your face was structured by the street.
I searched for the interplay
That lay beyond your eyes
To find the true extent of culture’s bearing.
Your step was strained and resonant with discordant
Beats.

Stand, please, by the shrub there
Where the sun (when it breaks the clouds)
Will bring life to your face –
But you sit, well that’s fine too.
I place an apple (that I’ve already tasted)
On the table next to you.
You watch it roll over the iron flowers
And fall and break in two.
I bend (with the sun on my back)
Trying to find that infinitely small, infinitely fecund. . . 
Bless you, I say, giving you my tissue,
And what I want to understand is that Hades I saw
Tattooed across your ankle?
As much as I try
I cannot understand the message behind
The curling of your foot.

But then I thought of Owen and Sassoon.

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to comment. If you enjoyed this poem, you might like some of my other writing. I have a section on literature (free to access) and another which contains the chapters of my novel: The Dracula Illusion. The first two chapters are free and the later ones are for subscribers.