Steven Duncan, Dark Flowers

a shining terror
will emerge and stretch,
pass muted shadow
over sunken gorge

figure after figure
rising in the night,
a field of dark flowers
bound up under ice

now from a slow thaw
they shift, abandon
a gentleness long admired
earth no longer to confine

they mystify aloud
escape the natural source,
obscure wicked details
by treading in the brook

scoring crude fettle
of a graveside view
the sun’s reveal: sharp marks
to render bodies anew

solemnly at present, though
they carve and crush
the vital organ
sustaining us

Steven Duncan is a poet and medical student living in Dallas, TX. He often spends his evenings exploring new forms of expression (and studying the cranial nerves). His poetry has been featured by Silver Birch Press, Ink & Nebula, Utah Life Magazine, Prolific Press and others. Steven was the 2018 winner of the Redrock Writers’ Founders Award. You can view more published work by visiting stevenduncan.tumblr.com.