RC deWinter
i was wandering in a city i didn’t know and it was dark not the time of day
the feel of it
of course it wasn’t the best neighborhood
sooty and grimy and all the buildings
old chipped asbestos and brick with oilcloth in some of the windows
i didn’t know where i was going
carrying a beatup cardboard box no top
it was all i had left which wasn’t much
old clothes some papers and i don’t know what all
it was odd
because everybody there was dressed like they were from the country
farmer clothes and workboots
the women wearing heavy headscarves ends wrapped tight around their necks
and somehow i met this couple don’t remember their names
let’s call them mary and joseph just for the hell of it
but there was no jesus anywhere
no kids at all
they offered me a corner in a room in their cabin
dirt floors and everything primitive
odd now that i think about it a cabin in the city
but then
it wasn’t a city anymore but what must’ve once been a cheap postwwii suburb
i dumped the box and wanting to be helpful
went out collecting kindling because there was no electricity
and we were going to need a fire
the grass was green and yellow patchy and i was alone in a place
i thought i knew but didn’t really
after awhile heading back with an armload of sticks and branches
i heard a great roar
voices from somewhere i couldn’t see a great wave
blowing across the land
and suddenly they were outside with me
mary and joseph staring at me razor blades in their eyes
i dropped the kindling and forgetting the box
ran off and it was the city again
with a thousand peasants in the dark alleys
shouting and shoving and waving weapons rusty iron everywhere
and i marked with a bloody x was a rat being hunted
and i knew i was lost
***
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.