SHROUD

by John Tustin

Mozart’s Ave verum corpus and the vultures circle

this bed where I make my shrine

to you and to the half-wanted loneliness

and to the death of love

and to the slumber of a living corpse.

May I ask one more thing of you,

woman who has denied my every exhortation?

Can you make a shroud for me?

Can you make it strong and black?

Large and all-encompassing?

Can you make a shroud for my love for you—

this love that dies and dies

but will not be dead?

Don’t just forget me.

Cover me up

and then forget me.

I declaim that I have had enough.

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many disparate literary journals since 2009. His first poetry collection from Cajun Mutt Press is now available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C6W2YZDP. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online.

Cindy Rosmus originally hails from the Ironbound section of Newark, NJ, once voted the “unfriendliest city on the planet.” She talks like Anybodys from West Side Story and everybody from Saturday Night Fever. Her noir/horror/bizarro stories have been published in the coolest places, such as Shotgun Honey; Megazine; Dark Dossier; The Rye Whiskey Review, Under the Bleachers, and Rock and a Hard Place. She is the editor/art director of Yellow Mama. She’s published seven collections of short stories. Cindy is a Gemini, a Christian, and an animal rights advocate. She has recently branched out into photo illustration.