Unusual Dialogue

                                                                 

                           [ Image from painting.about.com ]

From  a Prompt fromThe Thursday Think Tank # 39 Ghosts at Poets United

Cadaverous phantom

balancing snuff bottle with a stick

giving a throaty sneeze

dressed in a camelskin flat-shoe
walking on my mind.

"Quick," he implores,
"blow that snuff to the edge,
let it spill, let it be free"
unsure, I fidget

the apparition stamps on my mind
echoes hit my cerebrum

                                                                   

whenceupon he quips:

" Lameduck! Could I drive

my nails to your eardrums?"

which he does, I swerve

I remain on the spot

the apparition unfolds to me

laughs at my fright

then, as if on second thoughts,

speaks kindly, tells me:

" I was once you, dunce,
had clipped nails too
minded my own business too
but now, now that is no more
I walk on people's minds

dregs litter them:
broken thoughts,

begrimed aspirations
mucky mishmash"

            
strangely,

the phantom makes out
the door of my mind

leaving me in
a state most confused.


~ Salem Lorot 2011