Black Running From the Faucet

Painting by Quentin Schmitt

Black Running from the Faucet


Mary Crow



She had mixed up the characters in her long novel.
Sometimes a dead man recuperated in a later chapter.
Or the hero was greeted with the villain’s name.
A cloudy overhead mirrored a milling crowd.
Is that man waving his fists to threaten the planets?
No, he’s crossing the white page like an arctic voyager.
Outside this chapter, the land appears blackened.
Inside, the hero sits silently waiting for stars to open.
Out here I can hear the river’s confusion.
The dead man’s explaining his superman theory.
The hero leans over to wash his face in black sky.
I would like to know the story’s ending now.

Originally published in Issue #14 of Smartish Pace