Stranger's Tongue Tonight sleep stood Stony and ancient Scissors removed day's light Allowed darkness to slip between The gold of insects And the false names of abandoned children Lovers discovered as companions Hatred and silence Parked in a two hour zone Waiting for a ticket or perhaps a tow Their noiseless terror Awakened bone-dry mouths Fingers ran through a stranger's hair Blue water splashed a common face Grateful for slices of death Night's angels dismissed A stranger's tongue has stolen language Became brittle and cold

Donald Ryburn is an artist/photographer and the editor of 4*9*1. His poetry and photography have appeared in hundreds of print journals, anthologies, and on-line zines, including Black Moon, Poetry Motel, Pacific Coast Journal, Bitter Oleander, and Mobius (print) and Poetry Superhighway, Poetry Tonight, Room Without Walls, Poetry Down-Under, The Poetry Kit, The Miserere Review, and 7th-Circle (on-line). He is also co-author of the book Poetry Pathology. Donald lives in Lakeland, Florida and is a member of the Tvlvhvse Wokvkiye Ceremonial Grounds of the Mvskoke Nation. His email address is stompdncr@aol.com.

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