“That Sudden Delirium of Restless Silk” © Bill Wolak

 

the burning hours

the tank is empty
just running on fumes
the metal is soft
as flesh

one day it sputs out
goes nowhere
no more
and the phone rings
but goes unanswered
it sits on the table
and screams

no one is home

even the messages crinkle
and break apart
and flake away

much better, I think,
than going back there

much better than these
gross alternatives

I think I will finally sleep
without setting an alarm
and see what’s on the other side. 

 

Allen Seward is a poet from the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. When he’s not writing he’s typically working at the mill. He and his partner have spent the past summer and fall fostering a stray and her three kittens and are in the process of finding homes for them. His poetry chapbook sway condor is available on Amazon thanks to Alien Buddha Press.

Bill Wolak is a poet, collage artist, and photographer who has just published his eighteenth book of poetry entitled All the Wind’s Unfinished Kisses with Ekstasis Editions. His collages and photographs have appeared recently in the 2020 International Festival of Erotic Arts (Chile), the 2020 Seattle Erotic Art Festival, the 2020 Dirty Show in Detroit, the 2021 Rochester Erotic Arts Festival, the 2018 Montreal Erotic Art Festival, and Naked in New Hope 2018. He was a featured artist in Best of Erotic Art (London, 2022).