Whispering Torch
Everyone
is alone with the moon,
conqueror of all landscapes,
so that its singular voice may be heard
across the world.
In the desert whispers of survival.
In the city speaks of escape.
Inside jungles clears out your fear.
Over oceans points you to home.
Across fields tells of seeds to sow.
Inside beds holds your hand
and dreams with you,
trusted companion.
Come, lie down with the moon tonight;
it can only reflect
what you choose to shine upon it,
your
face
suspended
over skyline.
Look, how you are luminescent.
This Life in Bed
My imagination, he chides me:
you are a sad, little man.
This life in bed is stationed by the window
so the sad, little man can peep through
the crooked blinds to down the street.
There is a life in business, cars and suits
appearing before nine, then committing
their professional disappearing act after five;
the trick never tires, no matter how often it’s repeated.
The car park opposite lies empty at weekends
and then it becomes harder to tell the time.
It is autumn now and the daylight deprives me
of any sense of position. I hear the joke
of my neighbours on the hallway.
The days become creaks upon my mattress.
Around the hours, I lie in my welcomed cocoon;
after three days I notice I smell sweet, of cake.
This nasal notion is a comfort: The great unwashed
are eating their cake. I am a currant inside soft sponge,
a blanket of icing for protection against staleness.
I’ll go hard over time, yes. The night is scared of me.
The day is starting to cower too.
Bio: Colin Dardis is a neurodivergent poet, editor and sound artist from Northern Ireland. His latest collection is All This Light To See The Dead: Pandemic Journals 2020-21 (Rancid Idols Productions, 2022).
His work, largely influenced by his experiences with depression and Asperger's, has been published widely throughout Ireland, the UK and USA, and shortlisted for the Erbacce Prize, Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing, and Over The Edge New Writer of the Year Award, amongst others. Previous collections include Endless Flower (Rancid Idols Productions, 2021) The Dogs of Humanity (Fly on the Wall Press, 2019, shortlisted for Best Poetry Pamphlet, Saboteur Awards 2020), the x of y (Eyewear, 2018), Post-Truth Blues (Locofo Chaps, 2017) and Dōji: A Blunder (Lapwing, 2013). His latest album, a long-form ambient piece, is Back To Work (1tracktape, 2021).
Fevers of the Mind 