By Colleen Alles

After Rene Magritte’s, The Empire of Light 
Like an eavesdropper 
on a low conversation 
in another room, 

a lamppost stands alone 
outside the walls of the white stone 
house—the one shuttered 

to the world, closed in a tight 
cocoon refusing entry to further 
light. Upstairs, the house  

seems content to let the twin 
windowpanes speak 
for themselves, mark 

the telltale sign 
of a couple up 
past their bedtime 

a man too restless to sleep,  
a woman too tired  
from the long walk 

under the hemlock 
for dreams. Their bodies 
hum from mulled wine 

warmed on the stove: 
redness and richness 
honey and tangerine 

basking in their own 
remnants, the close of the day 
so in love with its own 
bright spices.  


  
Encircled by Sarah Kohrs

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Colleen Alles is an award-winning writer living in West Michigan. She writes fiction and poetry. The author of two novels and a collection of poetry, she is also a contributing editor for short fiction at Barren Magazine. She loves distance running, craft beer, traveling, her family, and her hound dog, Charlie. Please find her online at www.colleenalles.com.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sarah E N Kohrs is an artist and writer, with over 100 journal publications of her poetry and photography. She is the 2022 Kingdoms in the Wild poetry award recipient for her chapbook, Chameleon Sky. Sarah has a teaching license, endorsed in Latin and Visual Arts, and homeschools, as well as works in her pottery studio, creating clay art to savor. SENK lives in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, kindling hope amidst asperity. http://senkohrs.com.

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