Detour Through Shadow

by

Dorthi Dunsmore

---

1. DOWN TIME

in my magenta wool armchair
i sit
a solitary being
i stare at my blue princess telephone
will it to ring
it remains silent
lost in streets of memory
my despair wanders alone
grieving

above the pale oak desk my mother left me
the Roman face of an unrelenting clock
ticks moments of my isolation

evening creeps in
overtaken by night
i turn on the lamp
pick up my book
lose my solitary self
again

2. SNAKES

a cluster of coiling snakes
swarms in the pit
attacked by resident acid
they writhe and multiply
seeking escape
the mass expands upwards
this abomination thrives in me
it churns my past into revolting chunks
scrambles my thoughts
spits me out

3. UNCHARTED

i wake to a black velvet night
on my back i lie immobile
captured on a bed of tar
above this resinous adhesive
only my face is free
my eyes grope the blackness
feel a glimmer of green on my left
i focus and see the staring
LCD of my bedroom clock
3:00 A.M. the hour of death
my heart still beats within my chest
thud by thud blow by blow
it thunders in my ears
thoughts still race
in my imprisoned head

i think: therefore i am
Descartes said it
who am i to doubt

unknown forces press me down
i strain for breath in thickening air
i force myself to breathe
i look toward the light
it says 3:00 A.M. in green