Dietmar Trommeshauser's poetry has been published in Waves, Realpoetik, Rouge Et Noir, Recursive Angel, Talebones and other publications. "Portrait of a Ghost" first appeared in Rictus #7. Dark Planet is designed and edited by Lucy A. Snyder. If you spot any errors, or if you have any comments, please contact her at lusnyde@indiana.edu. All materials copyright 1996-1997 by their respective creators. No stories, articles, poems or images from this webzine may be posted or published without the written consent of their creators.

Portrait of a Ghost by Dietmar Trommeshauser Like a thunderhead blossoms the sky, my eyes bright as lightning, I float over the grey world move like rain and grow over your oceans like a tropical storm My face wet and beaten, my shadows are the bruises on your face, my violence is like an eclipse; long, drawn out, then suddenly over, the sun a gleaming knife. I watch your little girl get on the bus and walk all the way to the back with her eyes downcast and her head stiff and still as a nailed board and when the others look back at her she puts her thin knees together like a prayer. The silence surrounding her, scrapes a secret rust from everything. Death is like that. She studies her finger tips as if just now having found them, as if her arms had just sprouted from her shoulders. My desire for life as restless as her hands which seem to have nowhere to go. She is a freshone she is. Fleshtoned and shiny.