Darkness
Prevails as lights
go off, on a cold night
But for the ghostly gleaming glare -
Black cat
Copyright © 2026 by Crystal David John
There’s no mercy in the Texas sun
There’s no favor for anyone
There’s no grace in its glare
There’s no respite from his stare
There’s no escaping the celestial fire
There’s no defying our Sol so dire
There’s no shade near deep enough
There’s no victory in being tough
There’s no mercy in the Texas sun
There’s no outrunning what can’t be outrun
There’s no eluding his scorching touch
There’s no denying it’s just too much
And summer is still a month away…
You should have seen the glare my neighbor gave me
I have heard this story many times
All of my being wants to know why she puts so much energy into this
It might not have been directed at her, but she wants to take it personally
I used to try to redirect her; I know now that would be futile.
Can you believe she looked at me like that? She demands.
I make an excuse, and get off the phone.
Wondering why she has so little in her life to talk about.
Glad that I have my hobbies, my husband and my dogs.
Is my dog glaring at me?
Under a frozen cascade of stars
a vixen trots to her den -
mice today
they were her only prey.
Hunger gnaws
at a phantom bone
heavy with fresh meat.
Tomorrow she will rise early
and return late,
only two of her three cubs
will live to share a field rat.
The rat litter will perish.
Survival now depends
upon the lightness
of one chilled whisker.
(a story in senryu stanzas)
I get migraines.
- lucky me - glare can set me
off within seconds.
I always have a
pair of dark, polarized shades
with me - it’s a quirk.
When I was fourteen,
we lived in Shenzhen, China
very near Macau.
Macau, China, the
“Las Vegas” of Asia, is
the home of glare.
The Ritz-Carlton, has
a glittering galaxy
of bright chandeliers.
Those chandeliers move,
their silhouettes change shape - just
stab me with a spork.
Did I mention the
Mirrors? Every wall served to
magnify the light.
“You look awful,” my
mom said - our two week booking
became ten minutes.
“I just need sunnies,
those would work,” *then I gasped*
“I’ll look glamorous!”
We changed hotels, but
what a small world - my roommate
Leong grew up there.
We could have passed in
the yè shì as teenagers
and now we're roommates.
.
.
sunnies = sunglasses (UK slang)
yè shì = night market (simplified Chinese)
Ominous echoes
hush the song of eternity.
Sky is an ember:
Black and red and untouchable.
Night extends
Till day seems impossible.
Echoes stab the night
Till it crumbles over our heads.
The air bleeds.
The eyes fall shut
Seeking an escape,
Yet the violent glares blind.
Merciless glares replicate;
The night is darker than ever.
It seems
no matter the topic
Love's always
periscopic
pushing its little pink
nose
into a heart
purring its way
onto the surface
like sunlight nudging
a tropical sea
on the morning rise
Be them truth
or be them
momentary lies
love is a garden
of starry sighs
how we navigate
our dark
feeling chased
by a glare of day
Heed the sweet whispers of the evergreen,
Its song like string weaves through the canopy's hair,
But I promise, no good it brings to you, my dear
To offer to her, your love’s binding ring,
For such beauty does hath;
A heartless glare…
For even a demon’s eyes does in sunlight gleam,
But from behind masked guise, the truth will stare,
Leaving only before you a faceless being,
With darkened eyes; and string for hair.
Does it matter, whatever I've done
the mightiest accomplishments
under the glare of the sun
too soon gather dust, too often shunned
What have I built
that won't someday fall down
What songs have I written
will long be around
When it's over and done ...
What's the point of this poem --
to surrender to darkness and death?
Not as long as this heart beats
and these lungs can draw breath
Lots of rocks in the black
pock-marked yonder-
in the star quarry,
lots.
Dead moonlight in my hand
cools and shrinks.
Unseen,
mind-dust kindles
in the charred sky fields.
A pebble needs throwing.
And at night,
When your light isn't here
I will look to the moons glare
Knowing you are somewhere
Even if it is dark with out you
I know you will shine back through
I know you will shine on me like you do
And there will be light again.
Berenices and Arcturus
We're inspired.Hydra spoke
new words that tickled there
fancy.
Creation recreates , creation
The sources of which is
Sourced.
We are the materials with origins
Sourced by our own meeting,
gathered truths seeding like
sourced stones.
The things we know and those
things we don't know, hyperthermolly
speaking. They asked does Booted
stand in the Hydras of Ursa's pouring
To have us to believe the big dipper
and the little dipper faced one
another to create the precious stones
of envy. Jewels fashioned from the
Minds of artisans?
yandere skies yellow
star shines and brightly yellow
solar lisp resonating
~
heated glare prevails
yellow bronze star spiking high
beacons Twilight shines
10/20/21
Written by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021
“Hello! we’ve been here – near – spying on you,
Spying on what you do, stew, chew, and spew”.
On a moon quarter bloomed, Halloween night,
Two ghostly bumble bees swarmed in for a bite.
One buzzed my ears and whizzed around my beard,
Growling to drill my lips …. if my wife cheered.
One hissed her ears, kissed her cheeks, and shrieked
To lay the table with all we baked, and then sneaked
Behind my wife – sniffing – if she’d hide any bites,
And had a good bite, and switched off all our lights,
Glaring not to disrupt their peaceful night,
Yet to prepare the bed and leave the site.
*A 1st Place* in the following contest (Judged on Oct. 15, 2020)
Oct. 12, 2020
Halloween Fright Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Carolyn Devonshire
For what is hard, to find in the ground
and something so rare, for people to hound
why is this shard, worth a pound
it just has a glare, for the rich to be sound
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