callithump

RC deWinter

 

when turn yourself inside out
putting all that’s hidden
all you don’t want to know
on the outside
silence is never silent

it thwacks you like
a boxingglove to the jaw and suddenly
it’s the fourth of july

the parade steps off in a clamorous olio
of competing sounds as chromosomes
divide in the metallic screech of twinship
and vinegarsoaked frogs sing the hallelujah chorus

in sixpart harmony

the dogwhistle of memory rides on a float
draped in the shredded curtains of your
childhood bedroom as every monster
you were told was never real peeks out
from underneath and laughs

each in a different key of rust

followed by a stampede of broken hearts
crumbling on the pavement as they try
to keep up the pace

as you stare you see one of them
is yours

a clap of thunder and silence is silent for
thirty seconds over tokyo

the hollow click of knitting needles
that soulless echo of longago destruction
rises like steam from the sidewalk

clicketyclacketyclicketyclick

until it’s cut off by the shears of a
lunatic barber in a peplos
and silence is finally and forever silent

 

***

RC deWinter’s poetry is anthologized in Uno: A Poetry Anthology (Verian Thomas, 2002), New York City Haiku (NY Times, 2017), Cowboys & Cocktails: Poetry from the True Grit Saloon (Brick Street Poetry, April 2019), Havik (Las Positas College, May 2019), Castabout Literature (Dantoin/Hilgart, June 2019), The Flickering Light (Scars Publications, June 2019), Nature In The Now (Tiny Seed Press, August 2019), in print in 2River View, Down in the Dirt, Genre Urban Arts, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, Pilcrow & Dagger, Pink Panther Magazine, Scarlet Leaf Review, The New York Times and in numerous online literary journals.