Almond Eyes
Your eyes are words
speaking the metrops*
into desolation—
those who disobeyed Time’s reign
and spoke evilly of our God.
All anew,
the almonds of your pupils
are held by Jeremiah’s vision…
in the lackluster light
the visions are pronounced.
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*invented slang for metropolitan cities.
My Beloved
My beloved has a hand of gold,
filled with broken stems and flower
petals, green and gray and yellow.
The flowers match her eternal desire.
She is silent about the weather
and leaves kisses for children of fearful lasting.
Her hands are empty, the dream is fulfilled.
Her pupils are roses’ stems and steamed pleasure.
I pluck the last bush she touched–
I find it empty of all but thorns,
she has murdered the bed of beauty
I so sagely grew with tenderness and fear.
_______________________________
[Dustin Pickering is founder of Transcendent Zero Press. He has contributed writing to Huffington Post, Café Dissensus Everyday, The Statesman (India), Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, The Colorado Review, World Literature Today, and several other publications. He placed in the top 100 out of 12,500 entries for the erbacce prize in 2021, and was a finalist in Adelaide Literary Journal’s first short fiction contest. He was longlisted for the Rahim Karim World Prize in 2022 and given the honor of Knight of World Peace by the World Peace Institute that same year. He hosts the popular interview series World Inkers Network on YouTube. He is 42 years old and lives in Houston, Texas, USA.]