It's Still Life

Vermillion

There are jackals in the sky.
Burned laws. Flames dance rings,
it’s a vermillion dawn.
The blood is quick tonight.

We carry question marks for every life
that snaps like a wishbone.
Same punctuation
as eyes burn and weep.

There’s a man begging at the corner.
I give him a fiver.
He says he doesn’t have change.
These low expectations,

not like the old gods making sex
from lightning and thunderbolts.

Poem form is an American Sonnet: A non-rhyming, free verse, 14 line poem. Words: 109. Some artwork is created using Midjourney AI, and is identified as such in the ALT text or captioned. Imagery and poems ©Misky 2023.