Quick Bonus - Private Altars

So Sundays are a weird thing. I really need to get a Quick Links together because it's been a while but I don't have the energy at the moment. And Smutty Sundays is totally going to be a thing, but I'm not through anything right now and so that will have to wait as well. Instead, I present a slightly modified poem that appeared in the university arts magazine where I went to school. I actually wrote lots of poetry during college (much more than I write more), but not often SFF poetry. This, however, I think counts. It's kind of funny, actually, how obvious a poem I find this now, but in college I was still not incredibly open with myself or others about anything so no real surprise that I came up with this kind of a poem. But yeah, sorry about being behind on everything. Hopefully you enjoy the poem. Thanks for reading!


Private Altars
by Charles Payseur

at dusk I secret the bricks away
from the edifices of the sun--
one by one,
breath quick and hushed--
and build up my altar,
my house of worship.
hands bleeding, back straining--
it grows like a mountain toward the stars,
like a thorn
poised beneath an unsuspecting finger.
and in the shadow of my work
I sing in a voice
suddenly unafraid,
willing to share with the night
what the sun does not condone--
and I dance, and rage
with feet that dread the day
and stomp the stars
into their beds.
at dawn I tear it down,
brick by brick,
and talk in quiet tones,
timid steps
under the sun's hot gaze,
exchanging quick glances
with everyone--
wondering if they can see
the night in my eyes,
looking for it in theirs.


(I actually also had a story in the same issue that this poem appeared which featured a man who had embezzled a bunch of money and then set fire to his building when the cops showed up for him having a conversation with a duck and it. is. RIDICULOUS! I kind of love it even as it makes me do all the cringes. I like this one part, though, where the duck is trying to convince the guy to fly away. Guy, incredulous, thinks it's impossible, and duck returns with this gem: "You just have to see that up isn't always up. Sometimes, if you look at it closely, up is down, and then all you have to do is fall." I am Team Duck on that one. Slap that on a tee shirt. Anyway, thanks again! More actual reviews tomorrow, I swear!)