Of Horizons

By place9011, May 30, 2026

You with the well-worn smirk and side-eye squint
you mock death and religion as fantasies
covering for stark unknowables.
Yet here you are uninterrupted
a burdened sunset lasting half the night
beside a lake, the chatter of friends unheard.
A rumor of a friend’s death no one
notified you of, one falling into
a dark lake without a body, a cloud
of memories recycled in a hundred
directions, no suggestion of self
remains, no vampire or hooded saint
a death without religion unfolding
as a sunset; still lake no horizon.

2 Responses to “Of Horizons”

1. Craig Brandis (aka Burl Whitman) May 30, 2026

   ”a  death without religion unfolding
   as a sunset; still lake no horizon.“

   this thunders quietly, with authority. one of your finest.

   Reply
• place9011 May 30, 2026

  Thanks, Craig. Whitehead, who lost a son in WW1, said poems about grief merely trivialize it. I’ve tried not to do so.

  Reply

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