An Alphabet Laid Bare

by Anna Ruiz

You have no right to
chastise me, you know
nothing
but the alphabet of this poem.

You have no map of the dark trails
of chaos I walk upon, panthers to
the right of me, phantoms to the left
of me.
You have never even touched
these pallets
of the barely dead
I have unearthed

How could you?

I am a thin red line
of an honourable poem
sung in the key of destiny.
I will never betray my words.

And what of you?

O Winter Wind?