In the echo chamber
you sat, one leg seductively slung
across today’s chair, the other
tapping reverberated Morse code
the song in your head
a doubtful skill
you’ve never been called to use.
You’ve got plenty
of those, a database of silent
monkeys, up there, waiting
for their chance.
It wasn’t the first time
I found you that way
staring at the phone
lost in the past
your eyes burning my skin.
Your skin shimmered
bioluminescence in the darkness
the warmth of the room
your unwashed beauty
all that talent
wrecking the floorboards
throwing monopoly money
around
inedible confetti.
I almost
wanted to join you
in that fulsome emptiness
lap up the time
weighing heavily
in your open hands.
Magdalena Ball was born in New York City and now lives in Lake Macquarie, NSW. She runs The Compulsive Reader review site and is the author of the novels Black Cow and Sleep Before Evening, a book of poetry, Repulsion Thrust, and a number of other chapbooks, collaborative works and nonfiction. Her poems and stories have been shortlisted for several awards including, locally, the Newcastle Poetry Prize, the Grieve Writing Competition, and the Bayside Poetry Prize, and her work has been widely published in local and international literary journals. Find out more about Magdalena at www.magdalenaball.com.