two alleycats sprang from their overhanging courtyard perch,
startling the broken glass predawn midst,
interrupting the occasional moans from a half-open 4th floor window,
astonishing the quietude,
but not this leaky heart
busy pounding just enough to signal the misplaced dead
for it was that distinct odor
emanating from a wooden cellar door
opposite from where it crouched,
grey paint flakes
chips and gouges defining its age,
and its pathetic groans
when the wind disturbed its constant corpse-like existence,
some alien set of lungs hungering to resuscitate
this broken sentient entity
masquerading as a hopeful opening,
this portal phantasmagorical
this seemingly red eyed creature
now sedately stalks another victim to yank inward,
a heartbeat now approaches,
another psudosentient creature to feed from,
to embrace its greedy hunger,
to posses and drink deeply its severity.
regarding those blood eyes of the emasculated hunter,
its disarming eyes involuntarily shut,
the captive debates its offer of immortality,
the door opening,
the door closing,
prisoner then hijacked
blown invisible by some historic breath
other jackknifed nights
and for him, sentient breathless,
image apparent
now obvious to other predatory eyes
greedily cowering among the debris,
and lingering, satiated by sanguinary centuries,
gorged with expectations,
his life irrelevant
its life relevant,
mere blood now merging through this slight crack in the world,
man and phantom now forever
in pursuit of each other
through wicked
skeletal grey doors
of polluted perception
June, 2016
Delray Beach, FL