THE FALL

Katherine West

There is a myth
about the sun
happy in her everywhere
her gifts of growth and warmth
of beauty-making light

But someone insults her
(some lover of the dark)
so she flees to the cave
from whence she came
turns her face to the chill, unliving wall

He follows, of course
comfortable in his velvet element
He dries her tears and murmurs
It’s better this way, isn’t it?
See how lovely you are now

that shadows hide
your flaws
your scars
your festering heart
the brassy blast of your quenchless eyes

Now you are sable and panther
You are black water
without moon or stars
bottomless
and safe

Here, in this ever night
in this drip
of secret
and echo
we are the same

This, he whispers, is love

 

 

Photo by Karol Smoczynski on Unsplash

Written by 

Katherine West lives in Southwest New Mexico, near Silver City. She has written three collections of poetry: The Bone Train, Scimitar Dreams, and Riddle, as well as one novel, Lion Tamer. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Writing in a Woman's Voice, Lalitamba, Bombay Gin, New Verse News, Tanka Journal, Splash!, Eucalypt, Writers Resist, Feminine Collective and Southwest Word Fiesta. New Verse News nominated her poem And Then the Sky for a Pushcart Prize in 2019. In addition she has had poetry appear as part of art exhibitions at the Light Art Space gallery in Silver City, New Mexico, the Windsor Museum in Windsor, Colorado, and the Tombaugh Gallery in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She is also an artist.

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