Block the light, allow no leaking
through– not an odd request
for a nighted crawler speaking
through my cuspids, my best
pale nails grown
smart in the dark. I have
lived a life in the umbra alone–
anemic crossbreed: half
ash, half unable to die.
I rob one’s will
with fetal eyes that imply
a lover’s skill, delicate kill–
ideal for luring a small lost soul
to dine on in a hole.
Marc Darnell is an online tutor and lead custodian in Omaha NE, and has also been a phlebotomist, hotel supervisor, busboy, editorial assistant, farmhand, devout recluse, and incurable brooder. He received his MFA from the University of Iowa, and has published poems in The Lyric, Rue Scribe, Verse, Skidrow Penthouse, Shot Glass Journal, The HyperTexts, Candelabrum, The Road Not Taken, Aries, Ship of Fools, Open Minds Quarterly, The Fib Review, Verse-Virtual, Blue Unicorn, Ragazine, The Literary Nest, The Pangolin Review, and elsewhere.