carnival

a collab

 a threadbare cloak

                         —black as night

  a mask worn of 
                        bone white clay 

      scintillant eyes
          reflecting torchlight 
   
                  —as they carry love away

… … … … … … 

        blank tears
             ooze out
          of empty
               eye slits

                 —(being) nothing
              but a wavering
    void behind the mask

            a blurry hole
              constantly
          devouring

                  flickering
                      instability
                            indistinct

      —ghost

… … … … … …

                  Ponte dei Sospiri
                         a bridge of sighs

                    where ephemeral 
                souls

   —go to die

                  each archway 
               a limestone
          framed portrait

                     —a memento mori 
                            of tragedy 

… … … … … …

      black eyes
         burn through
      the veil

                      —semiconsciously
                        meandering
                      an ambiguous
                              haze

       —those eyes
     she craves

(art by Thomas Blackshear II)
…

       rippling wavelets 
             of memory 

                      stippling 
               the moonlit canal

                         —love unmasked 

          cradled in my arms
       a forever farewell 

                 —at Carnevale

… … … … … 

                 a kaleidoscope of
                     iridescent colors
                        appears
           —out of the mist

                    buzzing
                      around her
                          as she starts

                    to dance
            laced in feathers
       ferocious in disguise

                    —a gloomy shadow