Three Poems by Rp Verlaine

 

The imperfect shadings



turn darker, like a villain

entering the forbidden

in soft ballet shoes

of quiet, is us reflected

in mirrored crimes

of passion, with

others our fictional

assaults of intent paused

'til our victims walk away,

missing the theft

of their time wasted.

When Common Sense and the Impossible



dance separately upon 

choices you’re given

with only a blindfold,

thirst, or hunger

to guide you…

The odds random as

ducks in a pond

shot for lunch

will seldom be beckoning

with welcome.



But she opens her door

to pause, or reconsider

the new tattoo in my soul

that says Less Reason 

To Live Than Most

which I hope

she doesn’t see.

And rolling

the dice with me

on love again

she says, come in.




In Stolen Fluorescent Light



Let the room resemble

a museum to the doubt

seen in our portraits,

staring at each other

with vanishing wonder

at exiled tears to this love 

leaving the room as spectacle,

vacant, an exhibit upon entrance

titled untraceable regrets.

Rp Verlaine lives and writes in New York City. He has an MFA in creative writing from City College and taught English in New York public schools until he retired. His first volume of poetry, Damaged by Dames & Drinking, was published in 2017 and a second collection, Femme Fatales Movie Starlets & Rockers, in 2018. A set of three e-books titled, Lies From The Autobiography 1-3 followed in years 2018-2020.