My dark dreams scatter across asphalt streets. Rain splashes
ebony ink, winds snarling my damp hair. My mind in knots
and snags. Throat dry and raw as I step over cobblestones.
It follows me, this long shadow, waiting to cover me,to encompass me.
Now I am passing a field. My worn shoes sink into moist grounds.
The soil offers up scents of mild vegetation, promises of spring.
Gusts tangle trees and calls from lost trains resound through night.
It follows me, this long shadow, waiting to cover me,to encompass me.
I keep climbing a hill. My mind twisted into knots. How can
I breathe? There is no turning back. White walls meet me head-on.
I feel the rough concrete pressing my fingers as I push in.
It follows me, this long shadow, waiting to cover me,encompass me.
Finally swallowed whole by this black heart of night.
Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literary magazines such as Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Blueline, Spectrum, three Bright Spring Press Anthologies and several Kind of A Hurricane Publications. She has been nominated three times for Best of the Net. Poet and Geek recognized her work as their best poem of 2013. Four of her books have been published by fine small literary presses and she has three e-book titles.
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