Contact The Author: rdlbarton@gmail.com

Ron. Lavalette's work has appeared in these fine publications:



Friday, August 27, 2021

Secured Transport

25 Miles From Here (Anthology)
Pure Slush Books Vol 21
Print & e-Pub (August 2021)

 

Halfway to the crisis bed,
after he’d already convinced himself
that the driver was an alien
and his support person had been
duped into helping him be kidnapped,
he made his first attempt at escape,
only to be thwarted
by the automatic child-safety locks.
 
He pounded on the window
once or twice,
but not hard enough to break it,
remembering the gash and the
subsequent sutures
his last such action had netted him.
 
He was pretty sure he’d
starve to death
before they’d consider
slowing down enough
even for a drive-through.
 
He hadn’t eaten
in over five hundred years.


They tried to get him
to take a pill, but he was
too smart for that,
feigning sleep
between his ranting tantrums
and screaming incessantly
just to keep himself awake
whenever he thought he might nod off.
 
When they finally arrived,
he knew he’d been there before
—many times—
but he had no idea
where the hell he was.  
 


Monday, August 09, 2021

The Phoenix Retires

 Fixator Press (Online) August 2021


I’d rise from these ashes
but these ashes comfort me.
 
These ashes are all I have now;
these grey remains are my home,
far more accommodating
than even the most beautiful
sunrise, more promising than
any new day, these days.
 
These days are so dark,
rising from these ashes
offers no promise; offers
only another deadly pyre,
another chance to ash
and disappear again.
 
I will forego feathers;
ash will be my new forever.