Napoleonic Code

September 10, 2018 ✍ Poetry poem unrhymed

Gary Glauber is a poet, fiction writer, teacher, and former music journalist. His works have received multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. He champions the underdog to the melodic rhythms of obscure power pop. His two collections, Small Consolations (Aldrich Press) and Worth the Candle (Five Oaks Press), and a chapbook, Memory Marries Desire (Finishing Line Press), are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and directly from the publishers.

Napoleonic Code

This no-win decision
tests blood's allegiance.

After devastation & betrayal,
how does one behave?

Passion spills into perversity,
an ape show of vigorous pride.

This is what comes from
silk shirts & poor life choices,

territory & columns
marked for certain destruction.

Respectability battles urges;
a shot glass serves as home.

Extinguish the light,
prevent the lurid reflections.

She came a long way to interfere,
hiding from her own flaws.

Two of a kind spiraling
into a realm beyond reason.

Music triggers memories,
a shot rings out; a bottle breaks.

Shaking stars from the sky
doesn't much calm the nerves.

Fate delivers abuse
& what could have been
is what shall never be.

More by Gary Glauber → More poetry → Full issue →