Opening
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| Image by Thomas Wilmott for Unsplash |
OPENING
The rummy waits at the locked door,
counting breaths, not hours.
He doesn’t sleep; he hibernates upright,
saving his stories for the click of the key.
The sunlight avoids him,
but the neon knows his name
and hums it softly until he steps inside.
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This Quadrille (44 word poem) shared with those morning rummies waiting outside for me to open from DVerse Poets Pub.
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Chris, the image and the poem combine into perfect terror.
ReplyDeleteI can infer the meaning of rummy here but is there an actual definition for it?
ReplyDeleteIt's slang for alcoholic, or someone who drinks a lot of rum. https://www.fastslang.com/rummy
DeleteThis reads as a riddle, but the rummy is not one to bring comfort where he lurk in the darkness....
ReplyDeleteThis one packs a punch. So much sadness and story between the lines.
ReplyDeleteThe only rummy I knew about was a card game, so I am glad to learn from the comments what it means here. It sounded like something spooky, out of a frightening story for little children.
ReplyDeleteChris, I didn't know what rummy meant, but now that I see it's an alkie, it isn't quite as scary to me; more sad. What a waste of a life when:
ReplyDelete"The sunlight avoids him,
but the neon knows his name "