The rope can’t unknot.

A blue hand
above a broken chair.

A candle smolders.

At the end of the corridor,
doors open to empty rooms.

Bare feet on wooden stairs.

The moon is drowning
in a bucket of stale water.

An angel on the roof
slips on a broken shingle.

The roof collapses.

Far away a river stops singing.

Philip Venzke’s poems have appeared in The Midwest Review, The Deronda Review, Willows Wept Review, Stoneboat Literary Journal and Moss Piglet. A prize winning chapbook was published in 2022 by Survision Books. His second chapbook of poetry will be published by Finishing Line Press in early Fall of 2023.