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Poetics Presents

Geraldine Cook Davis

Gerri Davis is currently a free-lance writer, with short stories published in Siren, a UMassDartmouth publication, and in Ranger Rick, a magazine for children. After teaching poetry she decided to learn how to write it, and that's when she found Writers Village University.

Writers' Village members look forward to reading more of Gerri's work.

Night Terrors A chorus of clashing, androgynous sounds Gaining in strength with each guttural round A cadence, a pounding, a count of four Perfect for soldiers, from subconscious floor Black-velvet curtains rise on sleep stage number four Night Terrors, shrouded in skin-tight black rage Skate in tight symmetry, on an ice stage Loose fitting folds of hoods hide faces Feet, in black leather, burn sharp cryptic traces Audience of Truths clothed in symbolic images Applaud rapid, expansive, cerebral scrimmages Night terrors raise arms, then breaking hands Swirl into fiery furies toward land Truth comes: a Tidal Wave, the Undertow, Bringing Soiled Silt Disgrace, the result of the flow Musk-scented Fear mixed with bubbly sea foam Thirst for survival, desire to be home Furies sail past safe trenches into the foe Night Terrors conjure blue flame, part the sexes Wonder of gender, its curses and hexes Towering Night Terrors storm through the flame Rhythmically pulsating without shame Night Terror nests rise from 'neath towering forms Flushed with success, blame gone, glory born Night Terrors' Visions Employed now in play Fade from awareness As night turns to day. copyright © 2000 by Geraldine Cook Davis