The Insides of Out.

Leah Budin 
DAWN

            Give the dead man my regards

He stands in an abandoned playground

A stolen teddy bear on a creaking swing

            Lost can still be found 

            Day into night

            Night into sight

Until the dead man’s eyes sting

And he crosses over

Into the vast terrain

 

Where the last unicorn cries its silver tears

At the tombstone of its unborn fawn

 


DUSK

One melting sundae

Three spoons

Sitting on the porch

Until the shadows dwarf the real

            Drifting off

            Walking away

            Blending into the dusk

            Disappearing note of a whisper

An oboe played by the freckled hands of sleep

 


MIDNIGHT

The border between real and fake

The sound of a room

Full of skeletons

            Children facing the Devil

            Parents facing themselves

A blinking field of stars

Winking from the sky

Then there is no one left

 


NOON

Petals of water shot from a hose

A motherless girl’s glimpse of a clown

            A Mardi Gras headache

Spilled lemonade

Lapped up by the Cheshire Cat