Two Poems by Sy Roth

 

A Study in Scarlet

 

Scarlet woman,

harbinger of ruddy ill will,
heaves tsunamic waves ashore
that spill over him.

Throaty song of dissolution.

Crimson rumbles,
shake the earth with
belching eructations.

Force of nature--

smoke-belching, vermillion eruption,
burst of lightning emerging
from the merest earthly gurgle.

The tirade barrels on,

express train through a red night.
Ears, plastic appendages.
Another sleepless night.

Her eyes glow volcanic.

Mouth a gaping chasm,
florid tongue flapping
like a soaring eagle.

Murky, magma-filled balls

erupt in rubicund clots
scorching his roseate forehead.
In the wake, he, a tumbling bit of flotsam.

A Bifurcated Road

Indifference nestles between the sheets.
The two poles roll over
and mumble hasty goodnights sometimes,
passion a long-forgotten puppy-dog romp.
Sensuality replaced by time,
waxy faces and bloated bellies.

They are reality stars
without substance and they fill empty spaces.
Desire, along with the dust bunnies ,
swept under the bed,
replaced by C-Pap-induced memories,
an etude of Siren-slurping susurrations,
nightly hissed asps in the darkness.

They dress in their closets.
Bed partners who reside indifferently
offer comforts in dram-sized measuring spoons
papered over by blank, colorless dreams.




Sy Roth comes riding in and then canters out. Oftentimes, the head is bowed by reality; other times, he is proud to have said something noteworthy. cRetired after forty-two years as teacher/school administrator, he now resides in Mount Sinai, far from Moses and the tablets. This has led him to find words for solace. He spends his time writing and playing his guitar. He has published in many online publications such as BlogNostics, Every Day Poets, Danse Macabre, Bitchin’ Kitsch, Bong is Bard, The Artistic Muse, Palimpsest, Dead Snakes, Euphemism, Humanimalz Literary Journal, Ascent Aspirations, Fowl Feathered Review, Vayavya, Wilderness House Journal, Aberration Labyrinth, Mindless(Muse), Em Dash, South Townsville Micropoetry Journal, Vox Poetica, Clutching at Straws, Downer Magazine, Every Day Poems, Avalon Literary Review and Kerouac’s Dog. One of his poems, Forsaken Man, was selected for Best of 2012 poems in Storm Cycle. Also selected Poet of the Month in Poetry Super Highway, September 2012. His work was also read at Palimpsest Poetry Festival in December 2012.