Long held
Estimates
Suggest
Our star,
In main
sequence,
Will burn
For another
Five billion
Years.
And at that time,
A roiling
Ember,
Swollen from
Firesworn
Devouring
Of elements
It will
Embrace
The last trace
Of us,
The dust that
Knit the lattice
Of our form,
And welcome
Us home.
am writing
An Epitaph
Will the earth
With my bones
Swallowed
Find the marrow
Lacks?
Will the grey
Veined clay
Gather in the
Defects?
Will the stones
Laugh?
Carried in the water
In rivulets
With the weight of
Evaporated eons.
In red, roaring wastes,
Will the water wait?
Carving earth in
Mountain and canyon,
What will it make
Of the hollow things that
Once held this shape?
When scattered
Will I finally
Be lovely?
Will I finally be
Comely when
Rearranged?
A promise
Like feathers,
Like lead
Cradled in
The trembling
Of existence.
The ache
Burrowed
And silenced
In silt.
MJGS 3/2/22
Aggregate
Moss covered stone
Sun beckoned
The snow runs off,
Stays in shadow.
Petrichor and
Woodsmoke.
Its said to
Follow beauty,
But forgets.
Swift water flows,
Slows at the bend
In the middle frozen
Hand outstretched
Hard pack and
Hardpan
Veins of quartz
Veins of clay
Dust and ash
Pockmarked with
Grinding rock
Laden and vacant
A thousand years.
Shot rock
In granite
In agate
In aggregate.
Pine needles
In a panic.
Wind summoned.
The sun sets
And fills pockets
Valleys
Inlets
Seethes against
Mountainside.
Long strides
And echo
Against cliff face.
Falling and fallen
Pebbles and ember.
Oxygen fed and
Carbon starved
Stars burn and
Scatter
Then
Burrow
Nestle
Soften the
Darkness.
Ladies of Horror – November
Jack’s Regret
by Michelle Joy Gallagher
“Jack hadn’t slept since he drowned Elise. He hadn’t set out to hurt her. She’d just said so many things that wounded him in short order, leaving him no time to recover. The passion and fire in her that first drew his eye quickly left him burned. It left no working patience in him. They had been walking along the shore when she’d brought up Beatrice. Beatrice. Why had he ever given her the time of day?”
Read the rest here
Café Macabre II
I received my copies of Café Macabre II today and they’re gorgeous! This is an anthology of short horror stories and art by women, curated by author and editor Leah McNaughton Lederman. It includes my short story “The River” which is about the terror of death and the horror we face in life. Beautifully illustrated by Keyla Valerio.
If you’d like to purchase a copy, please visit the following links:
Kickstarter now live!
Last Road to the Backwoods is a horror noir novel set in 1930’s small town America. H.P Lovecraft meets Twin Peaks. Check it out at the link below!
Deranged.
Deranged constellations
With incantations of marred dreams
And scarred desire.
Michelle Joy Gallagher Soffe 