Haunted
Frances Koziar
One step, two step,
shiver
and run, pass through
the memory
like the cold
of the dead
Back, back, beyond
and through, turn and spin
—and him; another
him, another
hurricane, another—
Old words, his
words, your silence
—the screams never left
your head—
can hear him but can’t
hear you, gone
or lost or dying
Fading, erasing
—change the plane,
the memory—slip
between the ether,
shift and morph:
chameleon
of shadows. Silence
is only smoke
over the cauldron,
bubbling
beneath the lies, ready
to burn, ready
to eat, ready
to bring you back
there, powerless
Go, set
it right, hide
this time, run
this time, white out
the images, fingers
of his curse, run—not
home, but away, stay
away, ever
away from home.
FRANCES KOZIAR has published poetry in over 40 different literary magazines, including Vallum, Acta Victoriana, and Dreamers Magazine. She is a young (disabled) retiree and a social justice advocate, and she lives in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.