Horses
in the Dark
by
Thomas Zimmerman
The water rushing
in, a tide, a flood:
unconscious mind. I
dive, dream-lathered now,
my conscience
sparking blue despite the blood
that flushes me, the
wet that weeps, and—wow!—
I’ve been asleep so
many years. I lean
against the
darkness, let it straddle me
to spur, to gouge—my
ass, my back, my spleen.
Like being broken in
the dark. The sea-
tossed spume on
moon-stung sand’s a bright white mane.
The hoof-kick’s
quick and dashes out the brain. . . .
We prance in rain
that sluices all the shit-
clogged gutters
clean. Parisians ride gas-lit
above the catacombs.
We hail Baudelaire,
who promises he’ll
take us anywhere.
Thomas Zimmerman
(he/him) teaches English, directs the Writing Center, and edits The Big
Windows Review https://thebigwindowsreview.com/ at Washtenaw Community
College, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. His poems have appeared recently in Haven
Speculative, Sledgehammer, and Spellbinder. Tom's
website: https:/thomaszimmerman.wordpress.com
Twitter: @bwr_tom Instagram:
tzman2012
Bernice Holtzman’s paintings
and collages have appeared in shows at various venues in Manhattan, including the Back
Fence in Greenwich Village, the Producer’s Club, the Black Door Gallery on W. 26th
St., and one other place she can’t remember, but it was in a basement, and she was
well received.
