“City of Despair” © Edward Michael Supranowicz

 

Yearn

Loss tickles my skin
with a raven’s feather,
svelte and glossy,
lost to darkness;
I stand in an empty gym,
hollow, devoid of people;
heartbeats are slow,
unable to be of use.

I miss you here, then,
and now,
all commingled
into a tie-die creation
that bleeds colours,
drains to slate-grey rags
that fall apart, yearning
to stitch together.

In dreams,
sometimes you ripple,
peeling back surface layers
like the undressing of fruit;
I await your invisible touch,
scenting a connection
that floats on torn clouds,
lemon-juice sharp.

In dusty memories,
you exist by day;
a near-to rubbed clean
pencil marking;
a ghostly silhouette,
waning, flexing by moonlight.

I reach out,
trying to hold your hand
but fingers fumble,
bereft in furred darkness.
My hand is left,
not held, but a lone swan,
paling on the horizon.

I ruffle my feathers,
caw for you,
but distance
weakens my call.

Once downy white feathers
dye to obsidian rivers
that yearn for you each time
seasons turn cogs.

Fading to a lost crow,
ageing,
nursing a dimming beauty,
I sit atop a nestled crown
of chick-less eggs,
yearning to be whole.

 

Emma Wells is a mother and English teacher. She has poetry published with various literary journals and magazines. She writes flash fiction, short stories and novels.Shelley’s Sisterhood, her, debut novel was published in April 2024.

Edward Michael Supranowicz is the grandson of Irish and Russian/Ukrainian immigrants. He grew up on a small farm in Appalachia. He has a grad background in painting and printmaking. Some of his artwork has recently or will soon appear in Fish Food, Streetlight, Another Chicago Magazine, The Door Is A Jar, The Phoenix, and The Harvard Advocate. Edward is also a published poet who has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize multiple times.