The Dark Corner

I. 

Is it morbid 

To think you have never looked so beautiful? 

For the wells that once held your eyes 

Are far lovelier now, blood-filled to their brims 

Where once glinted, a-smiling, over a warm merlot 

There now lie twin, stilled pools 

This dark poet’s preferred elixir 

Congealed & coagulated just so 

Let me then fill this elegantly hollow’d & feather’d quill 

With what is left of you 

So that I may write 

Sonnets & odes  

Songs & poems 

To honor you, my love 

Less, yes, to who you once were 

Than to this thing you have now become  

II. 

Redolent, acidic repose 

Blooms pressed against my breast 

Sick, sweetly withering 

My smile loosens & shifts 

Laughter’s talisman… 

Ah yes, I remember… 

My hands relax 

Fingers splay wider upon winged clavicles 

Which ease out, & spread 

My weighted pelvis 

Sinks languidly 

Into quick-sanded silk 

As my legs 

Disconnect, & turn themselves outward 

Less for motility inclined 

More for corruption primed 

My dress fades, feathers, & wilts 

As I keep watch from above, below – whatever 

I see now, as the rest of me also fails 

But dare not blink 

Lest the scarlet spills from these, 

Your two most precious inkwells 

The End 

Author Illustrator K.A. Schultz writes with pictures and draws with words. Kimann, an art historian and freedom of expression advocate, is a fan of all things darkly romantic – and romantically dark. Her works include the short story/poetry collections NEITHERIUM – Prose & Poetry from the Neither, GÖTHIQUE – Ravenscraft Anthology of Horror III, and JACOB – A Denouement in One Act, a Jacob Marley rest of the story. Follow Kimann on Instagram and X @kaschultz_writer and visit https://linktr.ee/K.A.Schultz , and www.butterflybroth.com