BETWEEN
by Gabrielle S. Faust


His notes drip

Through the spaces

Between the floorboards,

Between the creaking plaster,

Around the scurrying of rats,

The scratching of possums,

The moan of the dead night watch man,

And scuffing of his chair,

Beneath the cotton-soft overlay

Of someone’s late night, early morning

Hushed conversation

On the stoop,

Between hissing exhales

Of cigarette smoke;

The notes of his bedtime

Melody drip down

One, two, three at a time,

Like raindrops on a tin roof,

Somewhere deep within

The forgotten avenues of

Small town South,

Until from the muddled

Murkiness of noise

Coagulates the semblance

Of melody,

Rhythm, rhyme, time,

Time to pace back and forth

Down this ten feet of hardwood floors,

Over the bridges built and burnt

By the inequities of man

And the tyranny of not

The individual but of the

Individual intuition trapped with

An ever-expanding universe of

Possibility and probability;

I walk in slow meditative strides,

Barefoot and restless,

Uncertain if what I am attempting to

Understand isn’t contained in the

Perfect imperfection of the jazz

Or the dregs of cheap cabernet,

Or the words I’ve written,

Or even the memories that

Make me a writer of fantastical tales,

But perhaps the truth I have been

Seeking is more simplistic and sweet,

Simple as the structure of one note

Lying beside another

Committed to a series of black lines

On white paper,

The way our bodies lay upon

The white sheets,

Intertwined in silence,

Beautiful and complete.


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Gabrielle S. Faust is best known for her acclaimed dark fantasy vampire series ETERNAL VIGILANCE. Her previous work has also included two collections of poetry, BEFORE ICARUS, AFTER ACHILLES and CROSSROADS. Her work has appeared in the sites SciFi Wire, Fatally Yours, Examiner and Fear Zone, as well as various anthologies and magazines. A professional member of the Horror Writers Association, Faust is to be appointed the Chair of the Texas Chapter of the HWA at the end of 2009. The Guest of Honor at the Anne Rice Vampire Ball in 2008, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Vampire Film Festival in 2009 and will be returning in 2009 as a Special Guest of the Tru Blood & Gold vampire ball, as well as the Endless Night Festival in New Orleans. In September of 2009 she accepted the position as the Online PR Manager for The Chainsaw Mafia. She lives in Austin, Texas with her two cats and collection of voodoo dolls.