Oppressive, 1973

by Mark Blaeuer

Dead hour. No change in the mercury
hellometer. Sleep ransacked. A red skull,
an inbred apparition. That locale
ground them out ex nihilo. Animate
leaves crackling as if under human weight—
recidivistic prowler shifting to
his haunches for an upward-angle show
past wind chime, holly. She sprang off the bed,
dressed lightning, scoured the gray neighborhood
until she finally became insensate.
The presence—close as fear, conjoined with hate—
stayed. Drone of air conditioners: a lie.