In order to view this poem as the author intended it to appear, we suggest reading it on a computer screen or in the landscape orientation on your phone.

Murderous
Paul Sohar

when it’s lights out for the night
I like to stop by a window
and stare outside
face to face with the darkness
eye to eye with the stars
waiting for someone
to say something

and if I wait long enough
someone will

maybe just me
talking to myself
a good listener
and a lousy believer

like my neighbor who
now steals my darkness
with his murderous
security lights

why can’t we trust the stars
to watch over us?
or our dreams to frighten off
the cold-fisted wind?

—
Paul Sohar has been engaged in every genre, including seventeen volumes of translations. His own poetry: Homing Poems (Iniquity Press), The Wayward Orchard (Wordrunner Press Prize winner), and now In Sun’s Shadow (Ragger Sky Press, 2020). Prose: True Tales of a Fictitious Spy (Synergebooks) and dramas with One-Act-Depot in Canada. Received a prize from the Rhode Island Writers Circle for a creative nonfiction story. Wrote the lyrics for a musical that was produced in Scranton, PA.

Know anyone who might appreciate reading Paul’s poem?
Why not share the link to this page?

Have you read these poems:
The Change Cups Speak by Emily Griffin
Negative Space by Michael Riordan

Table of Contents