Two Poems by Constance Stadler

Poetry
by Constance Stadler

Sudan

The vulture is patient.
Last stage evisceration
The stumble of thirst
of a death intended life.
No "collateral damage".
You are incidental refuse.
A comma in the litany
of carrion
inhumanity.
A rogue profiteer
arcs renegade machete
assuming your status
by the placement of your
rot.

The vulture approaches
his awaited reward.
O
sweet
toddler eyes.

++++++++++++++++++++

Refrain

The runes of winter
Are steeping beneath
Tumultuous greens
Phosphorescent rebirth.

The mandate to frolic
A universal imperative
Carried from majestic lemon monarch
To incandescent hummingbird
Hovering in
Calliope-hued
Nectared whispers.

The warmth of the equinox
Illumes thick, sickened whiteness
Of a long hibernation
even soft, I recoil
So unaccustomed
To bright.

The meadow cries for meandering
It will not remain fallow.
But I am no soloist,
for Vivaldi’s
jubilant exaltations.
Cold marrow deep dankness
Requires incremental
Refrain.

Author bio:

Constance Stadler has been writing, publishing, and editing poetry from the 'prehistoric' epoch of print journals to modern e-times. She was a former editor of South and West and is currently a contributing editor to the e-zine Eviscerator Heaven. She has published over 250 poems and three chapbooks in her 'first manifestation' as a poet, and has just released first two chaps in 20 years, Tinted Steam (Shadow Archer Press) and Sublunary Curse (Erbacce). Her most recent work appears in such 'zines as ditch, , ken*again, Pen Himalaya, Rain Over Bouville, Clockwise Cat, Hanging Moss, Neonbeam, and Gloom Cupboard. She was recently "Featured Poet" for the Guild of Outsider Writers. Her website is Connie Stadler.