being
feet swathed in
seaweed sitting at
the edge of
the sea I
shiver in the cold April
wind gazing at stars
they mock me
a singer without
a song a
dancer with
no partner
a soldier
without a weapon
but the sea
sings for me the waves
construct a
fortress round
my feet and in this safe place
I have no need of
a weapon
the candle in my
heart never
wavers in
the salty breath of the wind
as I a cat in
a world of
dog eat dog take the
measure of
my life in
slow exhalations frosting
the air breathing
*
drunk dinner
instead of another slug
of some strong liquor
I pull the tin pop top off a can
with the strength of 10,000 furies
sucking starch off a misshapen fork
cold spaghetti out of a cold can
dripping untwirled tendrils hanging off bent tines
painting my face with artificial tomato
cheap unheated comfort on the run
oh mother
you were right
see how worthless I am
I can’t even do heartbreak properly
*
voyeur
somehow I got trapped in a loop
endless unvarying
high above anything tangible
but for the cool metal
of this cagelike seat
and the belt that straps me in
I whirl at the mercy of the universe
completely devoid of control
overseen by gods or abandoned godless
makes no nevermind
there’s no escaping this wheel
that shows me nothing but
the busy life of ants below
I’m a prisoner of the unknown
lacking the remedy of habeas corpus
perhaps I’m dead
is this eternity
caught fast
a helpless observer
jacob marley in lipstick
who sees the need
has the remedy
but is unable to intervene
the flat blue sky gives nothing away
no signs or portents
nothing pointing the way to damnation
or redemption
as I fly I meditate on all the times
I could have made a difference
but turned away thinking of nothing
RC deWinter writes in several genres with a focus on poetry. She is also a digital artist and sometimes a chanteuse. Her only claim to fame is a decent Twitter following.
RC deWinter’s poetry is widely anthologized, notably in New York City Haiku (New York Times, February 2017), Cowboys & Cocktails (Brick Street Poetry, April 2019), Nature In The Now (Tiny Seed Press, August 2019), in print in 2River, Adelaide Magazine, Call Me [Brackets], Genre Urban Arts, Gravitas, In Parentheses, Kansas City Voices, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, Night Picnic Journal, Prairie Schooner and Southword among many others and appears in numerous online literary journals.