Mark Hammerschick

The One

I am a wasteland

lost in layers of dreams

Inception, The Matrix

Dorothy and her little dog Toto

wandering and wondering

what the thunder said

as it pummeled a pulpy

sky lost in the Texas hills

where Matthew moves books

as the interstellar dust settles

on the layers of time

where the now is the next

and the then has already happened

in the was which has vanished

where finding a heart

and courage and wisdom

is all that matters as we face our fears

in this game of chess

watch your pawns not to be trusted

in the dreams within the dream

where gravity evades grasp

sending quantum particles

deep into Heisenbergean Uncertainty

momentum and position unknown

how knowing where you are

is knowing nothing

since you are in my arms

and in that holding

that skin to skin

breath to breath

scent of death

as those desperate last gasps

scramble your throat

I realize you have always been

The One


Mark writes poetry and fiction. He holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a BS and MBA. He is a lifelong resident of the Chicago area and currently lives in a northern suburb near the shore of Lake Michigan and in Naples, Florida.

 His current work will be appearing in: Calliope, Former People Journal, Sincerely Magazine, Mignolo Arts, Blue Lake Review, Naugatuck River Review, Grey Sparrow Journal, Griffel, Wood Cat Review, and The Rockvale Review.