Lost

Did defeat
indeed
taste bitter?

Or was it
more akin
to ashes
on the tongue?

— Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, "The Fall"

Still

The quiet in the house
after lunch was
of such density
that it nearly
stopped the clocks.

— Jonathan Franzen, "The Corrections"

Evasion

Do you miss him?

My divorce is the great unhappiness of my life.

That's an answer, Brian said.
But not to my question.

— Jonathan Franzen, "The Corrections"

Autumn

Cavalries of leaf
wheeled across
the bitten lawns.

— Jonathan Franzen, "The Corrections"

Gaze

Her open eye
was like
nearly black
balsamic vinegar
bleeding
on white china.

— Jonathan Franzen, "The Corrections"

Shot

He fell to the floor,
the world sucking him down
into an infinite cushioned maw
from which no escape
was possible.

Until there was only
endless silence
and eternal light.

— Burt Hirschfeld, "The Ewings of Dallas"

Awake

When dawn was still long hours away,
bad thoughts took on flesh
and began to walk.
In the middle of the night
thoughts became zombies.

— Stephen King, "Under the Dome"

Sequel

The doorman
places the bags
in the elevator

and says
before
the doors close,

cutting him off,
"Welcome back."

— Bret Easton Ellis, "Imperial Bedrooms"

Reality

She waited at the beautiful
dining room table,
the falsely distressed wood,
full of fake wormholes,
each flaw polished
and deepened as though
by generations of family dinners.

— Louise Erdrich, "Shadow Tag"

Married

A soul could be captured
through a shadow. ...
Gil had placed his foot
on Irene's shadow
when he painted her.

And though she tried
to pull away, it was
impossible to tug
that skein of darkness
from under his heel.

— Louise Erdrich, "Shadow Tag"