Caligo, Patron Saint Of Strangled Light
A permanent glow
is never honest
or healthy
the earth made
day and night
for a reason
some us thrive
on dawning and
run all hothouse
others flourish
on the bottom
of the clock, only
under the promise
of a moon glow
We are all
gods children
no matter when
we are born
or bloom
Beware all
who claim to
walk with the sun
no matter the hour
that no bird can
bear the night
Tell that to
a parliament
of owls
or a patch
of dracaena
and they will
howl you out
with their flourish
Some twilight
holds no demons
just like some dawns
bare no meaning
if they didn’t
have to fight
to reach you
Our gods
have found
balance in
tilling the
same sky
Each house
can hold close
its own beloved
without burning
the other down
Paulie Lipman is a former bartender/bouncer/record store employee/Renaissance Fair worker/two-time National Poetry Slam finalist and a current loud Jewish/Queer/ poet/writer/performer. His work has appeared in Button Poetry, Write About Now, The Emerson Review, Rogue Agent, Voicemail Poems, pressure gauge, Protimluv (Czech Republic), and Prisma: Zeitblatt Fur Text & Sprache (Germany).
