Written by Marisca Pichette
who will walk with me
under the black and whispering trees?
who will listen for songs unseen—
tree frogs’ chorus
cricket minuet
creaking boughs played
by wind’s invisible hands.
why did you choose to make
your life in light?
were you afraid to close your eyes?
what made color greater than shadow
burning sun superior
to one moon—
harmless glow.
I’ve always loved darkness best.
I walk away from rude lamps
audaciously holding back the night.
blanket on my shoulders, I open wide
my sightless eyes,
unfurl my ears
& breathe the darkness breath.
this—this is what day can never break:
atmosphere of stillness
a never-silent silence
never-empty black.
I walk alone, knowing
in each shadow lies more weight
than a pale echo you’ll find
on the other side
of dawn.
.
Marisca Pichette is a queer author based in Massachusetts, on Pocumtuck and Abenaki land. More of her work appears in The Razor, Door is a Jar, Room Magazine, Necessary Fiction, and Plenitude Magazine, among others. She is the flash winner of the 2022 F(r)iction Spring Literary Contest and has been nominated for the Best of the Net, Pushcart, Utopia, Rhysling, and Dwarf Stars awards. Their debut poetry collection, Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair, is out now from Android Press.