- Katherine Ball
Unfightable
By Katherine Ball
Inspired by “Uknown presence” (1981) by Bev Doolittle
Eyes scan the darkness,
Searching, straining
Begging
It to uncloak itself
The weak light of the stars
Like spilled salt
Scattered upon dense black cloth
Far above, too far
Soft as an exhale
The spindly fingers tap lightly down his neck
A steady rhythm
Like the subtle beat of a drum
The cold caresses pale slivers of exposed skin
A vast army at rest on his arms and neck
Stand straight, saluting, suddenly ready,
Ready to battle the infinite blackness
The air tastes blue and cloudy
Like the shock of cold water
Lungs fill and deflate quickly,
Soft, rimy balloons
Fear curls in the blood like smoke
Twists the sinews of his bones
Infiltrating sections of his mind
Till nothing else is left
A warm exhale billows,
A tense snort, stiffening limbs;
Man and horse silently connected by shivers.
Imagination triumphs over reality
Terrors of the night cannot compare
To phantoms in dreams
Wood and steel
Powerless against creations of the mind;
Fire leans dutifully forward
But soon withers
Against the seeping energy
Of the darkness
Unseen
Uncertain
Unpredictable
Uncontrollable
He cannot fight the unknown