ryan di francesco

Bloodless Petal

the vanished / ring
in throats
of children 

with discarded eyes
framed
in the zodiac

swinging
down

on all those 
manacled boxcars
graffitied / connecting
glass creatures

to the shadow
of the drowning

arranged
like stems
from the alphabet

in an endless jar
of fractured
letters

breaking / lines

sparingly

from the bloodless petal /
with

underground

lovers /
who want to

move
the mirage

into
one

/ final /

shape

Ryan Di Francesco is a Canadian writer and teacher. He began as a freelance writer, with work featured in The Toronto Star and outlets across North America, before turning his focus to poetry and fiction. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Shadow and Sax, an emerging literary and arts press, and the author of two chapbooks — The Paper Hound (Alien Buddha Press) and Skeleton Mine Disaster (Bottlecap Press). His poems and stories have appeared in journals including Shoegaze Literary, The Pit Periodical, Ink in Thirds, Bicoastal Review, SQUID Magazine, among others. He also co-wrote the indie film Streets of Wonderland, which won multiple festival awards.