"Bats" by Laurie Reiche

Bats

Spit-spray of sunlight on the wet deck.
The sun is a sloppy warden. 
He yanks us around with his ups and downs.
Consistent in inconsistency. 
Points out all our flaws. 
Is a murderer — think Icarus, also Apollo. 
He won’t let anyone get close to him! 
Only the mountains aren’t threatened. 
And the birds that are born in darkness.

Laurie Reiche

Laurie Reiche is a writer, photographer, painter, and creative writing facilitator, she lives part time in London, where she concentrate son photographing the city, particularly Virginia Woolf’s Bloomsbury. She is the author of The Dance of the Carbon-Atom (Mellen Poetry Press, 1996) and has won first place in several contests, including the Riverrun Literary Publication of the University of Colorado Poetry Competition, the national Charlotte Newberger Poetry Prize sponsored by Lilith, and the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference Contest. She is also a member of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. Her work has won the Editors’ Choice Award for the best poetry in Inscape 2019 and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Headshot Credit: Laurie Reiche

Photo Credit: Mathew Haddad