Vesper Poem by Matt Mullins

Twilit silence strung between the spent
light and the darkness gathering

Broken by vows pulled taught at
the noise of long shadows echoing

Churned in the angry wake of a window
thrown wide to the teeth

Cast adrift above the insect chorus
feeding on this mistake of boxes

This is not the clutch of tarmac skinning
the parking lot, but her belongings

Hauled through the gloaming to a car
within earshot of their apartment

The mortification of two sieved by heat
fleshing out intangible pointing fingers

Or an evening bell sounding the betrayal
of all that is above the heart:

Crown, eyes, ears, neck, shoulder, lip,
mouth, tongue, all of them insisting

This is the toll of distance.