(my 2nd favorite poem from this book)
The Stench of Fancy Persuasion
Distress is the age
when mirrors delight hopeful faces,
but night-times never come calling.
Rains swallow timid feet
and thrust love away.
Storms hiss from a distance.
The child wears her hair like blankets
as she rolls up the day.
She says she wants to dream.
(from Fear of Heights) Copyright 1984 by Jeffrey Spahr-Summers.
Cover by W. Randall Corbin.