no apparent reason

Ever so occasionally, ghosts slip loose of their opacity
(but only to those near death), and ever so occasionally,
seizures occur for no apparent reason
beyond the chill of two Thursdays ago
and the dredge of this contaminated river.

Swaying alone in a paint-stained swivel chair;
drunk on the fleeting decisions
ever so occasionally, the moon personifies the obese
and denies its commands and gravitational pull,
choosing instead to coexist.

Bellowing to a swooshing interstate through Atlanta air,
belligerent with the neighbor’s retriever as it passes judgment silently
(plus-one inside, shaking silently and weeping quietly as baroque drapes catch
her emotion as it threatens to spill upon the haphazard carpet)
ever so occasionally, some conversations are understood to never occur.

You divorced Mona;
iinstead dreaming of a revolutionary, Marianne’s flaxen curls
or Petra’s auburn and ebony cascading ribbons.
(Let’s not linger on the details, shall we? We have a mandate to uphold.)
Any rash decision should be triple-checked by our supervisor.

As the waves hurtled themselves upon the ocean and the salt wind was pushed
into a sweeping face alit with self-recognition;
the fires burned far off behind a bare back, softly warming
a cold creek as it ran through and circled and cycled throughout
God’s fourth fingers, trembling with the weight of ecstasy and truth.

Maria Stratienko