The dreams flew shrouded in gray, The mist settled like a quilt of smoke, A magic veil that obscured the way as the river whispered secrets as it spoke. A mirror reflecting the unknown, Like a cloak of mystery hiding the truth, The fog disguises what it has shown; the sad memories of my wild... Continue Reading →
Into this Subtle Light I Stare by David Dumouriez
Night is only night - the years will tell us that. Dark, in all its many shades, is more a constant presence than an overlooking threat, the pointer to that subtle light ahead that focuses our thoughts, diffuses dreams, and frames our current truths. And so, and so I look, and I construct and deconstruct,... Continue Reading →
Painful by Brian Hardie
I’m strolling about the city deeper now at a calm… inside the handsome sunglass setting swung roses like a blind planetarium kindness now you will obtain numb syntax expressive to wit perhaps a breath pencil it in death was thrown last evenin' frosted by a smile with burden creating the end/ putrid breath from across... Continue Reading →
Insomnia by Scott Thomas Outlar
I stared at red digits on the alarm clock for months, slowly going crazy as I tried to fall asleep. I turned around in the bed, trying to find respite down at the foot board. I read books trying to become drowsy, but wound up ripping them apart and smashing them into walls when the... Continue Reading →
Lux Aeterna by Donald Sellitti
A death knell rung in light, not sound; pealing from the surface of a rust-stained concrete smokestack in a sky that seemed had never been without them. Flashing red on foggy nights and moonlit ones; on days that always felt like Sunday. But for the most interior of rooms there was no refuge from their... Continue Reading →
Slowing Down
Dear Readers, I just wanted to send a quick note to let everyone know that Ephemeral Elegies will be slowing down and going back to one poem a week for the foreseeable future. It's been great to be able to produce more content over the last few months, and I'm so grateful for all the... Continue Reading →
Submersion by Sam Barbee
My eyes close, surrounded by bluest sea. I bob virgin tides, never backstroked before. Body prone, angled headfirst into swells. Parabolic currents baptize, salt water’s gender nurturing each raw scar to a wrinkle. No corner to bend in underwater dark, light assembles the surface to snatch starlight. My confession gasps, sealed in single syllables. I... Continue Reading →
Legacy by Lynn White
Vera Lynn was a famous singer, the Forces Sweetheart, no less. My mother was Vera, so I should be Lynn. My mother liked things to be right. But even more than the correctness of Vera and Lynn, she abhorred diminutives. They were definitely not right. So I must have a name which could not be... Continue Reading →
Flesh and Bone by Kathi Crawford
Part One— Birth upon birth upon birth made us; a miracle of inherited flesh and bone. Our tethered hearts severed the day you left me at the door; my forehead pressed against the glass as rivulets of tears drained from my eyes. Part Two— It is said mothers raise daughters and love their sons. You... Continue Reading →
Configurations by R. Gerry Fabian
If you are a lost myth why do you haunt me? Nowhere has simple limits. Yet I explore each slight hope as it presents itself and retain just the glimpse of some expectations. We are imitations of collected sources with such potential only as a single response to correct a failure or establish success. So... Continue Reading →