syndrome

I have at times been one
possessed of fire and darkness
in the black hours courting evil
in sight of the silent sacred houses
and the fearsome moonlit woods
mumbling words only I understood
made signs of earth and stone
survived the madness and returned
ashamed at times and wanting blood
I have been both within and out the circle
and have kissed the serpents tongue 

skid noir

drinking cheap whiskey at one night stand hotels
sirens moan outside down empty weed choked alleys
homeless gypsies in rags like ghosts pass by broken windows
ambulances and police cars leave trails of red and blue
the skidyard holds its secrets as boxcars rumble through the night

cheap glasses on scarred tabletops hold ice cubes
melting in the weak air conditioned barroom
stains on warping wooden floors both blood and piss
mark where lost souls fought and lost dignity and more
alone against the wall afraid and drunk,  he stands

his night ends here in a musty backroom and unmade bed
the sounds of diesel engines roaring in the darkness
his shadows conspiring to choke him as he tries to sleep
as he slips into the coldness of unconsciousness
waking without memory in sweat and grime

his morning a hoarse continuation of his nightmare
a resident of the madhouse that is his life
the terrible morning revealing beggars, heretics and thieves
in silence he walks down cracked avenues
his head droning like flies on roadkill

walking in his sunrise's twilight curse
he sees behind uncurtained windows
faceless inhabitants under flickering lights
echoes of yesterdays before his horror took him
bathed in red and blue the sirens sound as the boxcars roll

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Joseph A Farina is a retired lawyer in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. An internationally award winning poet. Several of his poems have been published in  Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine, The Wild Word, The Chamber Magazine, Lothlorian Poetry Journal, Ascent ,Subterranean  Blue  and in   The Tower Poetry Magazine, Inscribed, The Windsor Review, Boxcar Poetry Revue , and appears in many anthologies including:  Sweet Lemons: Writings with a Sicilian Accent,  Canadian Italians at Table,  Witness  from Serengeti Press and Tamaracks: Canadian Poetry for the 21st Century . He has had poems published in the U.S. magazines   Mobius, Pyramid Arts, Arabesques, Fiele-Festa, Philadelphia Poets and   Memoir (and) . He has had two books of poetry published— The Cancer Chronicles   and   The Ghosts of Water Street .

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If you liked these poems, you might also like “Nightwalker” by Joseph Farina, which was published in August 2021.