The Nightmare, The Choosing
(Thanks to Renaldo Arenas)
You, he points.
Come arouse now.
You have ten seconds.
Either climax or ignite.
Nearby is a pyre of others
asked to do the same.
One. Two. Listen
to how he counts, undoing the clasps:
hers’, hers’
.
She stands disrobed.
She walks. She enters fire.
Do not think of pity.
Look, his gun is cocked.
Do not whisper ululation.
See, he is astonished.
Feel, he is wary.
Come, do not hesitate!
Now eyes slice with silence.
Hurry, fall on, enmassed.
I am certain no one wants this dream.
But I am certain too of the person burning.
Resident artist/curator for The Chroma Museum, Stephen Mead has intermittently been submitting multi-genre work for publication going on four decades. He remains grateful to all of the editors who have given his art and writing a good home as now, a retiree, he continues to try and sell his poetry-art hybrids and novels via CreateSpace.
Click here for his beautiful poem ‘Some beautiful men’ as published in our third issue? Cheers :)