Sweet, the silence when they opened the door.
No ringtones he heard, as he was in flight.
Something was there that switched off the on light.
A wafting of foul warned something hides more,
than skids on the floor from shoes that he wore,
or the stainless pinch resisting the fight,
or the crimson’d toolbox standing upright,
or the shattered casement on the upper floor,
or things that fled when they opened the door.
Something was there, and it watched out of sight.
The things that did leave knew things were not right.
Something was there, and it’s not anymore.
A legion of questions still hides from the light.
May answers arrive in dreams in the night.
Cemetery Series #_____
All images of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cabinet cards, and postcards are from the author’s private collection. Photographs appearing on this writer’s pages on this site are licensed.
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Author’s Edit History
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Rhyme scheme as of Saturday, February 7, 2026 | 12:38 AM
Modified Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet. The octet is Petrarchan, but the sestet refuses a release that typically would begin at line 9 or maybe 10, instead employing a different rhyme scheme of abba bb, in place of the typical Petrarchan sestet rhyme scheme of cde cde or cdc dcd, or minor variations thereof. Also, at first glance, the last two lines in this poem, a couplet, might appear to be the ending couplet in an English (Shakespearean) sonnet’s sestet (efef gg).
door (A)
flight (B)
light (B)
more (A)
wore (A)
fight (B)
upright (B)
floor (A)
door (A)
sight (B)
right (B)
anymore (A)
light (B)
night (B)
For a close reading of the poem, see the video above
For an additional close reading of the poem, see the video above
And, for a written essay “close reading” of this poem use this link:
https://michaelcantrall.wordpress.com/2026/09/08/a-critical-inquiry-into-the-gothic-architecture-of-how-he-went-out/
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