Phantom
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It's one of those nights. Phantoms scratching at the
window panes begging to be let in, for me to acknowledge
them after being numb for so long. My lizard brain hisses
Phantoms lurk in my mind
Haunting the neural networks
On which I must travel
They dog my thoughts
They pop-up like mushrooms
Sometimes beautiful and poisonous, or
Tasty and cute, or
It stands just past the edge of my vision,
A thought, a shadow, a fear
But it’s got no ground, no provision
To retain a presence so near
If all to be afraid of is fear
I scanned the ocean's surface
and saw your inky dorsal fin,
rising as a rigid rapier
where nothing once had been.
I saw you knifing through the water
so far away and free.
I came here seeking orcas
Nobody's seen a shadow like I, a shadow that glows only at night.
From the nightly depths and shallows of the gallows this shadow does rise
Not in light of the fellow, bright yellow up high in the skies
