Urban Fantasist
Menu
Picture
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Poetry & Fiction

New Poetry by Deborah Davitt: inhuman nature & all too human dolls

25/7/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
​We've self-editing androids and abandoned dolls for you now in two new poems – Inhuman Nature and Dolls – from Deborah L. Davitt. Deborah was raised in Nevada, received her MA in English from Penn State, and currently lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and son.  For more about her Rhysling-nominated poetry, short stories, and novels, please see www.edda-earth.com.

​
Inhuman Nature

He had a laugh that everyone reviles –
the blank-eyed type that doesn’t touch the soul;
he pushed the loan papers across his desk,
and they prepared to sign their lives away.
 
They remembered the plastic of his smile
as they drove to their new home, wondering
what had taken from the man such a toll –
what had sent his humanity astray.
 
But as they enjoyed both their garden and
retirement, they sequestered that file
from their memory banks, deleted it whole, 
like the things their coworkers used to say.
 
For an android, it’s hardly denial –
editing themselves makes their lives a stroll.


Dolls

The grove of trees had been
popular among teens
as a place for necking
or smoking pot,
 
but now, hanging from tree limbs,
little cherub heads, dangling
from nooses of their own hair,
always smiling, always smiling.
 
With their broken eyes, they’re
always watching, always watching;
they see everything we do.
 
Made of plastic, made of china –
torn and ragged clothes;
arms missing, legs missing,
little naked torsos
clatter hollowly.
  
Each little ruined face
seems somehow individual;
each time we venture there,
the collection seems to have grown.
 
Always watching –
I look for faces that I know
– always smiling –
afraid to find my own.
1 Comment
Marge Simon link
25/7/2017 19:34:24

I enjoyed both --but probably the creepy tree of doll's heads! I had a poetry collection last year, SMALL SPIRITS. Wish I'd thought of something like Deborah's to be included!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Welcome to the Grievous Angel – fresh free-to-read science fiction and fantasy flash fiction and poetry, including scifaiku and haiga.

    ISSN 2059-6057

    Quote, Unquote

    "We need more excellent markets like Grievous Angel" ...award winning Canadian author

    "Thank goodness for guys like you, who devote so much time to these things" ...Elizabeth Crocket

    "Thank you for giving us such a cool and unique e-mag" ...Mandy Nicol

    "Thank you for your kind words and making my weekend uplifting and bright. I'm excited to be published alongside other wonderful visual and textual works in Grievous Angel" ...D.A. Xiaolin Spires

    "Love your magazine. Keep up the good work! I've read bits and pieces of so many magazines that are so boring, I'm donating to yours because everything you publish is fascinating" ...Laura Beasley

    "I want to be a part of any project named after Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris" ...poet, writer & journalist Andrew Darlington

    "I really love your site and the wonderful eerie fiction you publish. Unlike a lot of work, most of what I read on your site stays with me - like a flavor or a scent, slightly tinting the world" ...performer, writer, biologist and painter E.E. King

    Categories

    All
    Flash Fiction
    Haiga
    Haiku
    Poetry
    Scifaiku
    Tanka

    Archives

    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    RSS Feed

Picture
Copyright © Charles Christian 
& Urbanfantasist Limited 2022


urbanfantasist@icloud.com

Fuelled by Green Tea & Rosé Wine

  • Home
  • * Latest book *
  • Weird Tales Videos
  • Charles Christian Bio
  • Manifestations
  • Books & Reviews
  • Weird Tales Radio
  • Donations
  • Writing: Nonfiction
  • Writing: Fiction
  • Writing: Poetry
  • Old Americana
  • Old Grievous Angel
  • WoldsCover
  • Home
  • * Latest book *
  • Weird Tales Videos
  • Charles Christian Bio
  • Manifestations
  • Books & Reviews
  • Weird Tales Radio
  • Donations
  • Writing: Nonfiction
  • Writing: Fiction
  • Writing: Poetry
  • Old Americana
  • Old Grievous Angel
  • WoldsCover