Shadow Time Poem by Carlos Gutierrez

It was around this time of day when I saw the shadow.

I saw a shadow tearing the sheet of linen that covered my porch.
The shadow bawled and shrieked and howled with every ripple on the mantle.

It was noon...when I saw that shadow.

The shadow who follows the hungry and appeals to the scammer.

It had been abandoned in the middle of the street, with no one to fall behind with.

Oh that shadow cried, and it cried, and tore the linen sheet with every claw.

It was neither human, nor animal, nor object, nor anything.

Just a simple curving shadow.

A shadow of a piercing blob,
or maybe a tearing peak.

Suddenly, the shadow turned to me.
Then, I saw its massive empty eyes;
they were filled with nothingness,
and showered me with a breath.

I felt the hairs on my arms begin to rise,
then they fell,
and rose again with the solar rays.

We were dancing,
dancing to the moonlight sonata.

And I bragged about my penmanship immediately,
making even the shadow,
ashamed of its powers.

Then we discussed my disease.

And it offered me a cure,
it said that no shadow could ever bleed to death,
nor stab itself with an invisible rapier.

So I joined the shadow,
and I lurked in the tails of others,
and rejoiced the sun,
as it could no longer damage my frail skin.

And so we haunted for its master,
and searched for a home,
a home where we could talk and have Negro tea for dessert.

Or maybe Scottish cupcakes that would fill our bellies.

And so I slowed my pulse,
while at the same time I decreased my penmanship down to a big, scary-looking 0.