POETRY BY S.C. VIRTES

S.C. Virtes has had over 450 stories and poems published since 1986. His works have appeared in Nature, Analog, Space and Time, Ideomancer, Star*Line, Scifaikuest, Illumen, and many more. He was a sailor in the movie “Master and Commander” and has also been seen performing classic rock tunes around the San Diego area.

BETWEENERS

cats cry at the stirrings
of things in other dimensions

motions from undirections
fill our homes with scents
from the furthest shores
where we would cower among rocks
if we could find anything solid at all

worse than the crying in our house
is the silence that follows

where nothing stirs,
a pure nothing that vibrates
making those unsounds almost
... insanely
... real.

CLAWFOOT TUB

This old bathtub
has seen better days
and the worst of nights:
run the water,
the pipes shake a bit,
it takes a while
for the water to run hot;

there are rusty stains
no scrubbing can remove
and if you run a bath
on September 13
(skip the bubbles )
you can see the body
of Amanda June Smith;

just a glimpse
a convulsing skeleton
clawing for air,
run your hand through the cold
water to dispel the phantom
…if you dare.

COLD CALL

The landline phone rings…
the little light blinks

will it be another
lame sales call or the
voice of a lost child
crying out over static
a million miles from home?

he clutches his head
and wishes someone else
could share the burden
of the cold callers

the answering machine
picks up, his fake voice
does its thing—

a quick hang up, no
adventure or hell or
glory tonight

a moment of peace
but then his idleness starts
to burn in his veins
he cries out:

"What world did they fall into?
Only I can bring them home!"

His grabs the phone
—dial tone—
he is powerless until the
near-dead things come
calling again

a cold sigh for
tomorrow?

COLDER THAN NIGHT

shutter the windows
and lock the doors

the trees are swaying
without a touch of wind

things are lurking
only their eyes ever seen

and morning is a lifetime
away