Ariel Hall
1.
Predatory grey hastily approaches
With delayed reaction from prey.
Ominous cirrus encroaches sun-seeped rays
One-by-one.
Atomic grains blur and fizzle
As coarse gears oxidize,
Catching with swift, ill-timed chemical floods.
Skulked claws embed between layered particles
To puncture teal-mothed skin.
Hues deafen among muted roars,
Onyx slithers to edges of the eyes,
Hitching rides on wired vessels
To the remaining mush.
Mistaken sight crystallizes organic veins.
Electricity is silenced in its house,
Deep leagues within witty meat.
Skewed vision blanks
When an abstract terrorist cloaks and distorts
What once radiated content.
2.
Wounded lavender petals spread across subway lines,
Begging for reprieve from steel severance,
Doused by wilted muck swamping the tracks.
A transparent assassin lurches, insistent
That a porous suit surrounding an anvil sternum cushions a tumble.
Stringed cartilage winces with each pace,
As sticky neurons fixate on pillow-top death.
Greasy linoleum tiles reflect unforgivably,
Coaxing parallel chins.
Saturated tongues flick in desperation,
Demanding exposure from overflowing acidic landfills.
Through moon-lit abyss
Periwinkle sheets engulf dim embers.
Powdered ash provokes clamped jaws to subside
But a ravenous coffin is patient.
Salt trickles through blood-soaked carpets,
Trampled by identical hounds.
3.
Sculptors chip at numbed marble
While siren tornados saunter through entropy.
Bitter dew mists peach-fuzz cheeks as horizons eclipse,
Hyenas guzzle their alcohol,
And carbon decays.
Damp concrete echoes multiplied footsteps.
Abandoned playgrounds still loiter
After giggles run dry.
Cracked asphalt splinters upright
Over rusty chain-link fences,
Pleading for glimpses of tiny lambs.
Disguised shadows surround
Stubbed growth from plucked shrubs,
Cackling at their filleted roots.
Gooey pigs slide from canals,
Mucus bubbling around crusty snouts.
A serrated guillotine listens
To the ultrasonic squeals,
But is loyal to its design.
Ruby-freckled sky breathes despair,
And exhales infinite stardust.
Stylus 