Practical Hypnosis by Richard King Perkins II

Your shadow, even at dusk
doesn’t amount to much more than a flatline.

Animal darkness staggers through the cinders
of an orange blaze—
falls twisted into a fetal pose.

In the spindly carcass of night,
look up at your hand
look at the lines in it
look at one spot

sinking floating drifting down

you won’t be able to take back
the kiss unleashed upon my mouth

can’t shun the resonant cascade
of murmurs from your visceral debauchery.

You grope for remnants of fire
splashed across an intractable horizon
in the first cold morning ever known.

Demagogue light deceives,
you lie hidden in dawn’s advance

alive in subtle ways
glistening  in the hum and gurgle
of a deeper oblivion.

Asensually, I continue testing keys
in blatant claret script;

you’re mentioned briefly in chapter seventeen—

streaming golden moonlight.

Richard King Perkins II is an advocate for residents in long-term care facilities. He lives in Crystal Lake, IL with his wife, Vickie and daughter, Sage. He is a three-time Pushcart nominee, a Best of the Net nominee and recent finalist in The Rash Awards, Sharkpack Alchemy, Writer’s Digest and Bacopa Literary Review poetry contests.