Solstice Fire    by Sam Dodge

at the rim of time
everything seems the same
dark days, dark nights
in fields of ice

flickerings of light
over futile sprays of stars

skeletons of candle flame
strangled up in shadows
dance a spastic dirge
bent dim by impish drafts

frost, in floral cataracts
looms o’er a snow-blind eye

recalcitrant grey dawn
low sun hides in dismal clouds
insomniac hands, wrapped in wool
wave numb semaphore signs

he paces; futile, cold
whilst all the earth lays dreaming

stark soul of winter
wrests hope from breasts
in claustrophobic visions
in brittle, scorning mirth

now stoke the solstice blaze
now let the laughter burn

now dance like unleashed flames
let Boreas consume your dreams
let ice nymphs eat the candles
they’ll not damp down the fire

now damn the darkest dawn
as, slow, the days grow long

Dark love,

Sam

Sam Dodge:

I’m 52 years old, from Minneapolis by way of northern Minnesota and 4 years on the west coast while in the Navy. Grew up “hippie”. Married for 27 years, think monogamy is a questionable commitment when there are so many people to love… Have 4 kids, youngest almost 17. High school dropout, always been interested in poetry, prose, and song. Have composed more than a thousand poems and 50 songs, many short stories,  finished one novel, shopping it to agents since publishers seem uninterested, will finish a second novel this winter, have half of another one ready for my attention then… I’m a builder/painter/handyman now living in western Wisconsin on about 100 acres of beautiful hills, valleys, trees and stuff…