A Violet Sky
It means a turbulent night
it means there’s no asking God
to level us out
we’ve gone so far off the charts
and he’s gone dark on us
This happened before
in Sodom and Gomorrah
back then the sky was lava red
they knew it would all go to shit
we dig up their stone entombed bodies
in the Dead Sea
where the sky is virgin white
the spherules ache
from the chaos
several miles below the dig
rests a phoenix
But we are not interested in enchanted myths
we lust for the salt of the earth
and it is never quite enough
When we hit that lava sky again
it’ll pull us straight
into the inferno
for a few hundred years
or so
our bodies creating a mulch
so pure
it’s stem cell perfect
Bio
Donna Dallas studied Creative Writing and Philosophy at NYU’s Gallatin School and was lucky enough to study under William Packard, founder and editor of the New York Quarterly. Lately, she is found in Horror Sleaze Trash, Beatnik Cowboy and The Opiate among many other publications. Donna recently published her first novel, Death Sisters, with Alien Buddha Press. Her first chapbook, Smoke & Mirrors, launched in fall 2021 with New York Quarterly. She currently serves on the editorial team for Red Fez and New York Quarterly.