Portrait

His face,
once as full
and richly hued
as a ripe apple,
had withered
to a collection
of lines and angles,
like a hastily drawn sketch.

— Justin Cronin, "The Passage"

Birds

Young men floated
up and down the streets
like pigeons,
roosting on this corner
or that and then
moving on,
all of it benumbed
with idleness
and vaguely ominous.

— Justin Cronin, "The Passage"

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"