Side by side in fainting candlelight
a man and a woman in bed
the woman curled up crying
the man flat on his back
motionless
the walls filled with night
and cold
Clothes strewn around the darkening room
their shadows
a crowd of old mourners
viewing the bodies
of two complete strangers
John L. Stanizzi is author of Ecstasy Among Ghosts, Sleepwalking, Dance Against the Wall, After the Bell, Hallelujah Time!, High Tide – Ebb Tide, Four Bits, Chants, Sundowning, and POND. Besides Red Eft Review, John’s poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Cortland Review, American Life in Poetry, and others. John’s nonfiction has been in Literature and Belief, Stone Coast Review, and others. John was awarded an Artist Fellowship in Creative Non-Fiction, 2021 from the Connecticut Office of the Arts. https://www.johnlstanizzi.com
Powerful poem about a disassociated relationship on the cusp of an event horizon. Nothing worse than a motionless man and his woman curled up beside him - crying. I felt the coldness, the end. Bravo John.
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