Terror rarely comes in thunder,
preferring a sinister waltz
of seduction, the single notes
of a piano, Bartok-like,
accompany the spiral stairs
winding down into the maze, echoed
by hammer-struck wire blossoming
out into chorus. Then, a voice
like violin strings descends in pitch,
looping in carefully placed steps
of a few seemingly random notes,
walking up scales and back.
This dance of tympani and plants
follows the labyrinth as wind
hums ethereal as an oboe
exhaling. A deep drop in tone,
a bassoon, then, metallic bones
clash in clanging vibrations
while strokes of plucked harp strings,
the heartbeat, first, steady, then slowing
to a perfect if ignoble end.
Ofelia, hearing the lullaby,
rests to find the peace of mind
found in the art of dying.
©Bill Cushing
BIO:
Named the “blue collar poet” by classmates at the University of Central Florida, Bill Cushing’s work has appeared in anthologies, literary journals, magazines, and newspapers. He facilitates a writing workshop for 9 Bridges Writers Community. Bill has four previous poetry collections: A Former Life, (Kops-Fetherling International Book Award), Music Speaks (2019 San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival Award; 2021 New York City Book Award), “. . .this just in. . .”, and Just a Little Cage of Bone, his most recent from Southern Arizona Press. He currently has two new titles available: Time Well Spent, a collection of personal creative non-fiction stories, and Heroic Brothers of the Civil War, an award-winning chapbook of historical prose focused on two of his relatives.
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