Suspense

By Fabrice Poussin

 

Lying on a blue steel table can be taxing
to stay still and let a blade mark a deep groove
to know everything one ever felt is set free
through this gaping gate may be a little shocking.

 

There she is, acting as she was told, motionless
lids shut as if sealed by an eternal sentence
she can still see the hovering shape of a ghostly figure
an alien it seems as she once saw in a movie.

 

It seems hands reach within her breast to cup her joys
gently removing the listless mass from its cage
to place it on a frigid pedestal as if to weigh its passions
she wants to resist but sense a last tickling instead.

Her soul smiles for the body she was once stretches
young kitten by the hearth of a morning snow
a glow fills the empty cavity with its eternal embrace
soon the old coat will be buttoned up again for her to rest

 

Fabrice Poussin teaches French and English at Shorter University. Author of novels and poetry, his work has appeared in Kestrel, Symposium, The Chimes, and many other magazines. His photography has been published in The Front Porch Review, the San Pedro River Review as well as other publications.