A Village Off the Beaten Track / One of Those Nights by John Grey

A Village Off the Beaten Track

The floods, the heat,
the winds, even the vandals,
have worn away the statue
over time.

He is no longer
the grinning devil of all fears

but a one-horned, nose-less,
one-armed, one-and-a-half-lipped
object of derision.

Once, in this village,
evil was set in stone.

Now it’s up to the people.



One of Those Nights

What kind of night is this.
It’s cloudless but there’s no moon.
The phone is silent.
There is no love.

I’m sitting in the dark alone.
A lamp, a bulb,
light is available
but would just be wasted on me.

A spider crawls across my skull.
An ear-wig haunts the right canal.
A rat has my cat in its mouth,
drops it at my feet.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Sheepshead Review, Stand, Poetry Salzburg Review and Hollins Critic. Latest books, “Leaves On Pages” “Memory Outside The Head” and “Guest Of Myself” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Ellipsis, Blueline and International Poetry Review.