BECAUSE LOVE IS AN ABSTRACT NOUN, A CITY FALLS INVISIBLY – A Poem and Spoken Word Piece w/Music – VIKKI C. in collaboration w/Robert Frede Kenter (Image)

BECAUSE LOVE IS AN ABSTRACT NOUN,
A CITY FALLS INVISIBLY

Title "The Gauzy Expanse of Wonder" - An in-between space; indefinable, grey-pink fading into gauzy white. Pillars, an uncovered ceiling, a revolving door, in process, drywall, industrial light fixtures, a hollow alcove, imperial industrial brutalist post war dead end, in process. An image (c) 2024 by Robert Frede Kenter.

I photographed you one last time. The derelict ballroom’s
interiors glowing the shade of Mother’s pearls.
Your body a slant of light—right hand pressed to the pillar,
the other hand—half-hidden behind your waist. You were waiting—
for a child, or a fresco, to embellish this orphaned vessel.
Rooms of experience quickening with your breath,
a little salt in the walls where the sea had retreated for good.
The missing chandelier was keeping time, swaying without
the risk of breaking. No jewels to tempt the thieves that came
disguised as crows. This was the hall of the last known piano—
a harp to its east plucked through a dormant sunrise.
What else remains, depends on who is guarding the exits.
Sometimes, you danced grief into a gallery. Posthumous frames
awaiting late creators. A cough in the battle of refrains.
Your dress—swirling—always an octave above expectation,
shielding my missteps. In April, you exhaled a swansong.
For nothing asked to be painted, you smiled, and a mirror was found.
A firefly haloed your head, winnowing your weight from the column—
a dimming lantern in my eye. The monologue is on me now.
There’s a fragrance after the end; an empire built from loss.
Its design is closer than the blueprint.
Your hidden hand—releasing what I could not save.

The Spoken Word Version:

Vikki C. is a British-born, award nominated writer, poet and musician whose work explores the intersections of science, ecology, existentialism and the human condition.

She is the author of two poetry collections: THE ART OF GLASS HOUSES (Alien Buddha Press, 2022) and WHERE SANDS RUN FINEST (DarkWinter Press, 2024).

Vikki’s poetry and prose are internationally published/forthcoming in venues such as EcoTheo Review, ONE ART Poetry, Dust Poetry Magazine, Psaltery & Lyre, One Hand Clapping, Ice Floe Press, Black Bough Poetry, DarkWinter Lit, Acropolis Journal, Stone Circle Review, The Belfast Review, Nightingale & Sparrow, Sontag Magazine, Boats Against The Current, Origami Poems, Jerry Jazz Musician, Mythic Picnic, Fevers Of The Mind, Ellipsis Zine, Across The Margin, The Write-In (National Flash Fiction Day), Literary Revelations, Loft Books, Lazuli Literary Group, Salò Press, Igneus Press and other venues.

Vikki’s spoken-word poetry has also appeared in podcasts and various audio-music collaborations.

Twitter: @VWC_Writes

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/vikki_c._author

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