hallowed, lightless

hallowed, lightless (for my mother) photography by 02vin No face in the wine-dark mirror. No light in this room. No lights under the skin and bone. She tilts her head owlish. Textures in the dark suggesting motion. Soon an eerie light wavers behind her eyes, at the back of her throat, beneath her greasy skin. Something is always coming off her, misting candle wax and paper ashes. She runs terribly hot. What was inside of her that had to make room for this? Something that grew in her and something she swallowed. Something old: drive in creature feature trailer or stones under skin. Stacking stones in driveways and sliding them in gas tanks. B thriller with A list stars. What’s in her is out of her. She replaced it with a tongue of rotten flame. Fire’s nothing nowhere. It’s in her but it’s out of her. When autumn ends at last and winter falls over the earth like a rain of ashes the fire will go out and she’ll be gone. She’ll deliquesce into drool and darkness. But autumn won’t end. ...