Yellow Mama E zine

THE HUNT

 

by John Grey

 

After scouring fruitlessly the dark forest,

I creep closer to the outskirts of the village,

for a stray mushroom picker or a

young woman heading home with a basket

of ripe raspberries, the color of blood.

 

For there’s nothing like the taste of stragglers,

of those so reckless with the time,

they barely notice the sunset in their midst,

or the onset of shadows that eat away

at the retreating light.

 

But, this night, there are no dawdlers,

not one solitary figure ambling mindlessly

along the lesser-travelled roadways.

 

So my thirst must accede to my patience,

hunker down with me on the grassy crest

that overlooks so many bedroom windows

that soon enough will offer up

a pretty display of virgins in fluttering nightdresses.

 

But, when it should be my time of feasting,

I’m barred from entry by panes of glass

festooned with garlic flowers and crucifixes.

Hiss all I can, there’s no dining on

a fresh young lovely this night.

 

So I slowly retreat back to my castle.

If I had a tail, it would be flapping between my legs.

Speaking of tails, I spot a cat,

sneak up on it, grab the damn feline,

take a bite out of its leg, suck what blood I can

before it wiggles free.

Was it a virgin? It’s unlikely.

Stray cats in this burgh seldom are.

 

 

     John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Shift, River and South, and Flights. Latest books, Bittersweet, Subject Matters, and Between Two Fires, are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Rush, Spotlong Review, and Trampoline.

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Bernice Holtzman’s paintings and collages have appeared in shows at various venues in Manhattan, including the Back Fence in Greenwich Village, the Producer’s Club, the Black Door Gallery on W. 26th St., and one other place she can’t remember, but it was in a basement, and she was well received. She is the Assistant Art Director for Yellow Mama.