(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.