A Fine Tether By John Drudge

A bleak spectral mist

Descends

Into the valley

Like the creeping tendrils

Of a slow growing

Cancer

The steady drip

Of a rusty sunset

Faint on the horizon

Turns the pond

The color of dried blood

As my mind drifts

Into the cool dead greys

Of regret

Leprous and oozing 

Into the pools 

Of every memory

Every dream

And every mastication

Of sinewy thought

Lost in the possibility

Of madness

John is a social worker working in the field of disability management and holds degrees in social work, rehabilitation services, and psychology.  He is the author of four books of poetry: “March” (2019), “The Seasons of Us” (2019), New Days (2020), and Fragments (2021). His work has appeared widely in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies internationally. John is also a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee and lives in Caledon Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children.