Doug Roy, Midnight Owl, Cut Paper
What I’m Afraid Of *
My veins will all open at once
and blood will bloom with dark dahlias,
each petal edged in frost.
My freezing breath will burn stone
cliffs to nothing but smoke,
and the air above them will never
nourish even a feather of this
mind not borne on wind.
The rising sun will shine through me
as through a minnow’s fin,
and I will sublime like ice
from a shingle, and you will swim
away through every eternity
and never look back.
*Previously published in Brian Jerrold Koester’s collection, Why the Trumpet Is Blue (Silver Bow Publishing, 2026)
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Brian Jerrold Koester