Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
I wonder where shadows go when people die–
Do they ascend like souls to heaven
and wait their turn to be sent down again
To loyally follow a new owner around like a lolling puppy
A life of service without so much as a petting or a bone,
growing by day, crouching under the cover of feet at midday
shedding its thin cloak by late afternoon, and just retiring
until the next day, unless the owner is nocturnal,
aroused under streetlights, frequents low-lit bars
and it makes a walk-on, guest appearance
on tenement walls, grungy alleyways,
bouncing across the room like a bendy acrobat
cast by a bedside lamp, just in time to steal the show–
Shadows, after all, have their own allure
their aesthetic so cinematic
until the last candle on the altar is put out
and they descend into the abyss, that starless
realm where all good shadows
eventually go to take their bow
First published in Loch Raven Review, Maryland, USA
