Fall to Colossus — Shannon Lund
Pillar to the dark,
ancient vacuum where no
light reaches,
between desolate mountains
above a sea of earth and beasts
whose cries are one in the night.
The shape of something
vaguely man, Colossus with its claw
hanging over the godless–
Here the night is god, is animal
with reptilian likeness in movement
straining under human skin
too thin to contain it.
His seat of pitch looms
towering in the sky,
petrified briquette cooled with age
and dormant at the heart of his bright twin.
Chalk spills into her soil,
powdered essence defiling every atom.
It grows deeper,
a monolith to anything not
claimed. Nameless others
will crawl through damp earth to sit at his feet.
The touch of it is bliss
as it consumes–
Revel
as the spark comes,
twinkling in the glorious dark,
smoke like hungry eyes
finding prey and
Praise
the manless place that called
them away, shame melting,
armorless, naked before his
insatiable gaze.
Abandon
thy virtue for more
saccharine values made of
flesh and not the artifices
of self-righteous man–
Writhe
as the veil of night falls heavy,
stifling without silence as they
howl loudly, limbs entangled,
withering until they become the Stone
and their cries
echo long under the moon
enticing more to join in the fall.
Shannon Lund is an avid reader, writer, and editor from the Bay Area. She studied English, Women's & Gender Studies, and Creative Writing at SCU and earned a certificate in Editing & Publishing through UCLA Extension. In her free time, she can be found reading to meet her yearly book goal, learning sewing and embroidery, and hosting themed dinner parties. Find her on Instagram at @shannonklund and on TikTok at @thewritershanl!
