There is a place somewhere in this oven heat
between the buildings and the clouds perhaps
or underneath a shady rock
where strange, bewildered cries escape into the hot, desert wind.
Five miles of wire stretch across this land,
strangling lizards and curious, crawling things.
When the blast occurred, the sand rose
like a net cast high into the air, a blanket of grit
that brought tears to our eyes and left us scrabbling
for a place to hide, as the heavens blew away
on a red haze of consciousness.
We hunkered beneath rocks and awaited annihilation,
wondering if we would discover a new day,
if we could gather a remnant of our lives around us,
though tattered now in all their multitudinous, bleeding designs,
like melted clothing, fused to our skin
in stained rainbow colors.
Liberated, we dispersed into summer’s humid air,
arms raised high to frame the sky,
a final remembrance of how life used to be.
Hands and limbs set free, we danced across the land
and followed the dawn on wings of song,
as the wind, with insistent hands, pushed us forward.
DON BROYLES writes stories of a decidedly weird nature. He has two books available: Doughboy: And Other Strange Tales (short stories) and The Elevator (a novella). Other publication credits include Eldritch Tales, Nyctalops, and Spectral Realms, among others. He currently lives in Peru.
COREY NYHUS is a narrative artist currently living and drawing in New York. An avid lover of
fantasy and occult horror, his work is full of stark inks, eldritch dreamscapes and sympathetic monsters. Corey is currently earning his MFA in illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. His forthcoming dark fantasy comic, Bloombreather, is slated for release in the spring of 2020. His work can be seen on Instagram @coma.nydus and on his website at coreynyhus.com.