John Wise
In Darkness
I am what you find in darkness.
I exist in fissures which appear
when pale streetlight constructs shadow.
I move from darkness to darkness—
a moment
disregarded in normal circumstance.
I am what you find in darkness.
Faceless footsteps that resound like rain
off a tin roof.
A glimpse
into the other side
where shadow and stone dance.
I am what you find in darkness.
I am a furrow in your lobe.
Silent, the night’s composition will pass
as a fragrance, a piece of her,
is all that’s left—
a shadow.
I am what you find in darkness—
what you conjure.
Fashioned actions from heavy marble.
I am what you find in darkness.
A shadow on shifting irises.
There. Behind the black reservoir.
I am what you find in darkness.
Light creates buzzing anathema.
Braille flesh. Bitter fear.
Hidden, now beyond the periphery.
I am what you find in darkness—
a shadow. Silent sorcery.
I am what you find in darkness.
Tendrils etch fissures across your flesh.
I exist as a star’s phosphorous emissions,
light already bled out, and yet.
I am what hides in the shadows—
invisible in the sun.
I am what you find in darkness.
The dark side of your face
when shadows press against you.
An unloosening skein of wind—
the fabric of night clings to you.
Chains. The moon rusted in place.
I am unknown. Unremembered.
………….A thousand shadows slipping
……………………..into and out of your body, supine;
…………………………………a nest of earth-eaters writhe,
…………………………………………….thrive amongst sulfurous air. A den
………………………………………………………..inside your cavernous body.
………………………………………………………..I am unknown. A darkness
…………………………………………….emanates from empty space. Warmth
…………………………………turns sour. Rows of stone.
……………………..The pillars of nature connect the dead
………….with stardust.
They loom like stretched shadows
in the trusses.
………….My faces, waiting in ambush.
……………………..All secrets, shadows to their surfaces—
…………………………………fog gathers in streetlight,
…………………………………………….a star dims.
………………………………………………………..Somewhere else, this night is younger.
………………………………………………………..I am wherever it is thought
…………………………………………….that I’ll be. Look,
…………………………………and you’ll find me.
……………………..A flicker from the light fixture,
………….a sound rubs against fine-haired flesh—
black hosiery of shadowy night.
Pale-green odors form textures
………….of flame.
……………………..Shadow of smoke. Ash of stonecrop.
…………………………………Stained. Her violet lips. Any scent
…………………………………………….which cannot be placed.
…………………………………………………………The unshaped whisper.
…………………………………………………………And only as much. I am no portent.
……………………………………………..I am no shadow.
………………………………….Secrets composed in the
………………………smallest of parts— and deeper—
…………..in parts infinitesimal— and deeper—
in parts undiscoverable.
I am what you find in darkness.
A darkness
staring you straight in your eyes.
And what is it that you find?
And what is it
that so vaguely reminds?
I am what you find in darkness.
I am what was left behind.
_______________
John Wise is a middle school English teacher living in Florida. Whether writing on his own or when working with his students, he promotes writing that is deeply rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and the sheer joy of creating. John has poems published or forthcoming in Midsummer Dream House, Illumen, JAKE, Disjointed Lit, and Teach.Write.
Author’s Notes and Backstory: During my final semester in college, I attended a Friday night Aesthetics class. To bookend our reading of Don DeLillo’s Point Omega, we watched Hitchcock’s Psycho before and after our reading of the novel. “In Darkness” came after the second viewing. Around 11:00 pm, with the other twelve or so students, I stood outside of the library with our professor. We smoked and chatted for a bit before leaving in all directions to go home. The immediate shift from interaction to isolation was visceral. Confronted with the feeling of foreboding so common after watching horror movies, I found a place to sit and smoke as I tried to embody this intangible threat that burrowed into my mind. The decision to craft the second half of the poem as slithering tendrils of lines on the page is an attempt to capture the long shadows, stretched daggers of light, and the feeling of being followed.
Editor’s Comments and Image Citations: The abstract image, merlinlightpainting (Pixabay), captures the dark/aloneness invaded by filaments without a clear intent of bringing hope or danger, but the red and blue threading is ominous.
