Vacant
These ruined eyes torn up hip seeking solace in my big toe it’s an ache a climb as if I’ve split myself into part water part oil slam dunked into a fog that’s lasted two decades some detour I decided would be an epic adventure turned into a survivor search sun down stars twinkle I give it another day another breath into a long goodbye There's This Riff I have with God and Satan when they decide to organize a colossal cluster fuck together design some universal catastrophe to rip us from our root People die by the dozens other people have to pick through the aftermath to locate their parts white ashy pieces blended in with the concrete and dust piece them back together for a proper burial cremation perhaps closed coffin most definitely I want to know how this comes together like….. does God say Satan, you pull these people together to stage a disaster I’ll hang out here on the sideline and pick through the souls as they line up for divination I’ll take my half you take yours we are good for another hundred years or so….? I've Realized I'm Hurting It’s guttural feels like a deep deep ravine has opened within me I pour into its oblivion lucid and broken with no end in sight I’ve realized I’m hurting as I flow into an open and sucking sea a menace adrift this ain’t no yacht party this is the thing I have feared since childhood no life vests no floating devices scared shitless be damned if I drown Negative Velocity I stopped thinking about my breath pouring out of my body bleeding into empty creating nothing from some chasm to some nothing I - the nothing give of my breath give so much of it until my lungs flap like a deflated balloon give a last heave before they dry to sand while I collapse like dropped clothing in a heap An evening gown empty of its body empty of its master Bio: Donna Dallas studied creative writing and philosophy at NYU’s Gallatin School and was lucky enough to write under William Packard, founder of the New York Quarterly. She has appeared in a plethora of journals, most recently The Opiate, Beatnik Cowboy, SpillWords and Phantom Kangaroo. Donna serves on the editorial team of Red Fez and New York Quarterly.
Fevers of the Mind 