Alex Kashko
Scrapyards
The
steel vampires stand, derelict statues
guarding
their home, the scrapyard
that
backs onto your backyard
come the
night the vampire machines
rise and
walk, undead
in their
futile dance
with
them homeless fairies dance
learning
to handle the burning touch of cold
steel statues
and the
presence of the undead
that
live in the scrapyard
where
vampire machines
roll
past your backyard
The dog
in your backyard
sees the
unseelie parade dance
fairies,
goblins and machines
displaced
by humans’ new steel statues
destined
too for the scrapyard
to
venerate the undead
the
humans too are undead
thinking
life only their backyard
worshipping
scripture, that scrapyard
where
undead ideas dance,
animated
statues
driven
by custom and prejudice. Humans, machines
that
think they are not machines
think
they are not undead
money
worshipping stranger hating statues
trapped
in their own backyard
parade
in a sad meaningless dance
that
ends in the scrapyard
where
they sit in wheelchairs, a scrapyard
ruled by
machines
that
direct the dance
of the
mindless undead
who
choose not to leave their backyard
in case
they find they are statues
that can dance. For the scrapyard
that
swallows the statues is ruled by vampire machines
immune to garlic: clustered undead rulers of their backyard
_______________
Former software developer Alex Kashko writes fiction, nonfiction and poetry. He is drawn to History, Myth and the Uncanny. His poetry has appeared in a number of anthologies and he has published one poem, “Carrion Crow,” online.
Editor’s Notes: Shockwave (DOTM Concept) by Barricade24 combined with The Library from “The City” series. Image: Lori Nix forms one nuance of the sestina.
