Closing art by L.H. Grey

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Akira Yamaoka “Promise”

Voices
So many
All at once
Each in possession of their own tongue
Each with a grip upon my black lung
Strangling violently
Vile their proposition
Caring not for disposition
The declaring of permission
For I am merely vessel for each desolate revision

They come mostly at night
Yet recently have been far less fastidious
Movements insidious as they rattle each joint
Tap the walls for hollow points
Then open every sinew to suggestion seldom any less than hideous

At first, I resisted
Refused to be dictated to
Felt used until they claimed that it would not be advantageous to
Sipping from my spirit like drunken lords
Crashing goblets as they siphoned the wine
Raising a toast to the host with the most to extort
Deadringer for a fool and therefore best equipped to suffer for all time

So many blackened eyes
So ready to antagonize
Staring orbs with flair for the dramatic
These sentinels abreast of the schematics
Have studied their subject from husk down to lumber
Up the downstair to my secret cognation for every occasion I slumber
Tap-tap-tapping on the veins to tease the sap and sate the very most insatiable of hungers

The nights are longer now
Often they bleed into one
Of shadow cascading
To dayspring no longer bound
All the while, I hope and pray that maybe I was wrong somehow
Maybe I need not abstain from all insider trading
Maybe hearts of blackened glass can sanction lighter staining
Plaything I may be but maybe that’s my playful nature shining through
Maybe it’s required that I refine their crude suggestions
Redress the bedroom eyes declining dues
Besides, faith confided once upon a time that sight will realign with only blindness left to lose

Voices
So many
All at once
Each in possession of their own tongue
Each applying dressing to my black lung
Channeling vibrancy
Vital their kind proposition
Caring to flush disposition
Thus, I declare full permission
For I am clearly vessel for each eloquent revision

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Richard Charles Stevens

Keeper of The Crimson Quill

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