After Dusk

Those who immerse in the dark must not neglect the light. The philosophy behind shadow medicine is to embrace a full spectrum of emotions. To be purged by honesty. To go down to be able to go up.

An owl who laughs must also be a hummingbird that shines.

Here is another of my poems recently published in Bolts of Silk:



After Dusk

mauve has gone down
the long roller coaster sprint
of a firefly’s throat.
we are offered a fabric
without spectrum or prism,
dark curtains
drawn on a lavish stage.

nothing left
except hints of lost embers.
glints and glows like magic tips
of an Etch a Sketch
that never paints.

we must do the work ourselves,
filling in the canvas,
guided only by a rare
meteor scar.

what we see, all our dreams,
merely a whimsy of stardust,
clouds of fleshed glitter
kicked up by the hobos in our heads.

that’s night’s secret,
as if we didn’t know—
we wear ourselves,
feel our own secrets,
when we button on the dark.