Some semblance of wit running down the track, triggers
hordes of bodies plowing strange forms to escape it.
Leave my rum madness encased in my mind!
lest I lose this unearthly tenderness
I trust God in the earthly crevices where time does not exist;
misshapen moons of some other worldliness disguised
by mediocrity, where slivers of humanity prevent
the uncanny from rearing its common head.
Midnight comes decoding messages on even-numbered lives,
marked as clear as the language that saves them.
Slip down the path where peace is eerie,
silence loud with the weight of the world.
My body skips on the bias, feet trimming
each side of the forsaken street.
Holding in dry hands, my heart full with tumult,
the flaccid joy of an unremarkable life.
Ashleigh Genus (@themeltedmind) is a Black Caribbean-American artist, born and raised in New York. Her poems have been published by Poetry Under Cover, The Latte Press, and Sweet-Thang Magazine.
If you enjoyed this poem, you may also enjoy “Angels of the Morning” dark fiction by Alan Catlin.
While you’re here, take a few minutes and visit The Chamber’s bookshop.