(Poetry & Photography) Night Songs by Phibby Venable

I wander at night, I plant my eyes in stars,

and walk the floor to a favorite song

Just down the hall,

my people hang on walls, mosaic and fleshy,

smooth, and slim, colorful–

Captured fey eyed and dreamy, facing forward in scattered smiles,

placed precisely in the rare stillness of formal attire

A fluent crowd, too many to count.

Some nights I am a silhouette,

a window shadow in a room

I make the most of the moment, and rescue myself

I watch for blackness in the murky light,

and listen to the house settle

with a different attention than I give it in the day.

I cannot unlearn the loneliness of listening.

I will not change the optimism of random love songs.

Always hurting, always healing, someone, somewhere.

(Meet Mago Contributor) Phibby Venable