One Poem by Philip Butera

 

Some Friends are Black Mirrors

 

Some friends are black mirrors

smiling a mournful smile,

distant from an artist’s appeal.

They are indistinguishable in caskets

afraid to applaud expression

and salute

the opulence of fearlessness.

 

That simple cohesion

that warms a room

icily irritates the frowning resentful.

As a presence curves imagination

for images to roam within,

black mirrors,

elude to pretentiousness,

attempting to ring desire

with a caprice of influence.

But,

oceans roar,

owls watch, wolves chase

and stars are never

an afterthought,

 

Careful about choosing words,

I distance myself

from shadows undeserved.

I cling steadfastly to creativity

and prefer possibilities

to banality.

Gazing at the obvious

those with glassed frowns

entrenched in literalism

seethe from

abstraction.

 

I willingly

board the train without a destination

and welcome the disorder

of originality.

I leer

at the melancholy hordes of sameness

and despise

the refrain of majorities

that

clasp tightly to contrition.

I tumble with acuity,

drink in hand,

bare breasts against my chest

in a theatre of

dreams and sensuality.

 

Long ago,

when

nightfall

promised

imaginative encounters.

I vaulted through a black mirror

and

discovered my reflection

applauding me

on becoming myself.

Philip Butera - received his Masters's Degree in Psychology from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. He has published four books of poetry, Mirror Images and Shards of Glass, Dark Images at Sea, I Never Finished Loving You, and Falls from Grace, Favor, and High Places. His fifth, Forever Was Never On My Mind, will be out Summer of 2023. Two novels, Caught Between (Which is also a 24 episodes Radio Drama Podcast https://wprnpublicradio.com/caught-between-teaser/)  and Art and Mystery: The Missing Poe Manuscript. 

His next novel, an erotic thriller, Far From Here, will be out Fall of 2023. One play, The Apparition. His current project is collaborating with a British photographer, a French artist, and an American graphic artist to produce a coffee table book in praise of Women. Philip also has a column in the quarterly magazine Per Niente. He enjoys all things artistic.