Good Fences, and: Into Darkness, and: Before My Eyes

Good Fences, and: Into Darkness, and: Before My Eyes Diane Webster (bio) Good Fences Good fences make good neighborsuntil neighbors are sand dunes. Infinite conflicts rub the fenceagainst the grain so slivershack like samurai swordsagainst time-in-a-bottle sand. Sand lassos wind and chargeslike endless soldiers attackingenemy barricades againand again and again . . . Until the fence is buriedin a pharaoh's sarcophagussealed with sand shiftingback and forthbetween fence slatsmade to manage the border. [End Page 128] Into Darkness My foot and leg are like a white caneexploring territory around me—I follow walls like a rat in a maze,the cliff edge missed until my weighttransfers and falls where depthcould be twelve inches, could be perpetual. My hands reach puppet-likein front of me grasping only darknessI hope . . . not like fumbling for the lightswitch and touching someone else's handor after watching the Vincent Price movieFall of the House of Usher where a ghostlywoman creeps her hand out of the coffinand emerges into my bedroom slowlysliding blankets from my bodyas I feel her fingers tickle my neckor a spider web with a handful of coldreactively thrown against the wallin a suspicious bump. Is it dead?Is it scrambling over the floor,over my foot, up my leg?What was it I touched?! My eyes crave light like a ropeto hang on to or to hang fromas darkness skulks around . . .naughty boy darting pinches at the new girl. [End Page 129] Before My Eyes Peripheral movement wavesfor full-on visual attention—my eyes search up, down, left, right—nothing. Back to forward stare. Again movement flickersattention backto stillness, patience, stillness.Back to forward stare. Movement rips in/outof view focused, alert. Eye floaters tease vision,"Look over here! Here!"My eyes forgot to ignorethe jesters of seeing. [End Page 130] Diane Webster diane webster's work has appeared in El Portal, New English Review, Verdad and other literary magazines. She had a micro-chap published by Origami Poetry Press in 2022, in 2023 and has one accepted for 2024. A poem of Diane's was nominated for Best of the Net in 2022.