A November night, after the rain,
and the country highway has a slick sheen
that glosses darkly, like an obsidian pane,
and beyond it lay a nocturnal Autumn scene.
The moon is buried in a shallow grave
of clouds like black soil, spread over all,
but there are no more cadence rains, save
for the droplets on trees and eaves, slow to fall.
A dull green glow from a distant houselight
illuminates an absconded backyard revelry
of empty lawn chairs, a canopy wound tight,
and the twisting branches of a tarantula tree.
Rows of houses, side to side on either side
and shoulder to shoulder, or apart, in kind,
but all crowd toward the highway as if to hide
from the dark hills lurking just behind.
Soon the brick walls of the local school
are glimpsed here and there as the drapes of Night
are pinned back by each bright electric spool
atop lampposts which glow with pale light.
No one passes upon this lonesome road
nor are houses lit with restless souls;
it is a ghost highway, like the stories of old—
a place where the silence of the world tolls.
And mists dream non-thoughts along the highway,
roaming like ghosts in constant, aimless drift;
a lethargic mob lost, purposeless and led astray,
floating as the world dies away,
and the woeful winds lift.
Stephen Marshall. Writer, illustrator, layabout. Find him on Amazon, maybe. He has paperback and kindle books listed there. He also writes Supernatural Romance under the name S.C. Foster (because his fiancee pushed him to do so). He seems to have a knack for the Romance genre, much to his chagrin. Having pursued Children's literature he is particularly proud of his Children's novel series "Lost And Found", which begins with "Chloe Among The Clover", continues recently with "Stormy Within The Strawberry Patch" and may, in some future potentiality, culminate with "Candice Through The Picket Fence". These are novels for children (including his insistent nephew), but they are also written for adults who are children at heart. His short story collection, "The Eldritch Diaries", centers primarily upon Cosmic Horror and Body Horror, combining Lovecraft's mythos with the motifs of Sigmund Freud. His largest poetry collection, "Broken Crown Kings", contains over two hundred poems and two short novellas concerning the fleeting nature of the world and Man's place within it. Recently he has published a smaller book of poetry concerning Kentucky, Moonshine, and Ghosts called "Moonshine And Spirit Chasers". A much larger collection, entitled '"Nevermore" 99 Rhymes For $0.99' is also available. For those seeking supernatural and folklore, his collection "Weeping Cherry" is available also.
https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Marshall/e/B07536QKD9?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_fkmrnull_1&qid=1554215427&sr=8-1-fkmrnull
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