Erasing Away the Pain by Ann Christine Tabaka

The whiteness of morning fog invades daylight

hours / drifting into noon. A fragile veil of dreams

surrounding all. White / like the petals of a Cala lily 

falling gently from dawn. No sun to burn off haze as 

droplets hover / thickening air. Breathing in dense 

clouds / daylight is suspended. Walking through a 

dreamy mist / reality dissolves / emotions unfold

The softness of fur / caresses pale moist skin. Time 

collapses inward / taking all sense of being with it.

There will be a time / when all life fades / and 

vanishes / devoured by the sun. And today will 

be but a memory / painted on an ebony sky.

Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry; nominated for the 2023 Dwarf Stars award of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association; winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year. Her bio is featured in the “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2020 and 2021,” published by Sweetycat Press. She is the author of 16 poetry books, and 1 short story book. She lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking.  Chris lives with her husband and four cats. Her most recent credits are: The Phoenix; Eclipse Lit, Carolina Muse, Sand Hills Literary Magazine, Ephemeral Literary Review, The Elevation Review, The Closed Eye Open, North Dakota Quarterly, Tangled Locks Journal, Wild Roof Journal, The American Writers Review, Black Moon Magazine, Pacific Review, The Silver Blade, Pomona Valley Review, West Texas Literary Review. *(a complete list of publications is available upon request)