In The Shadows
by Nevada Kerr

It happened overnight
The city became an overripe money tree
A forest of overripe angels
Stinking up Heaven

It happened in our sleep
The city became an oven hatching primal fears
A desert of primal fears
And virtual tears

Strange lights emerged from the parks
Where ghostly shadows danced and embraced
Lovers bartered time for a kiss or a handshake
Strangers burned memories for food

On the other side
They drained an ocean to build a city
Where electric girls could escape in the summer
And give birth in front of flashing cameras

A ghost citizen hovered in the park
Bartering and baiting the light on an angel's wing
Certain souls became content to wander
In dreams, in awe, between memories of spring

Fortunes were made and lost across nations
The streets were remade for shadows
Electric girl shadows roamed empty, silent malls
Built near abandoned parks and dream graveyards

Meanwhile in the cookie jars and libraries
Souls without voices communicated by fire
Air-dispensing robots inhaled the winds
Strange lights went off in their eyes

Small birds got caught in a sky machine
Suns were extinguished by the gatherers of daylight
Memories of school dances were exchanged for water
And photographs of electric girls in the winter

It happened in our hopes
The city became a haven for gangs of ghosts
A bought and sold memory
For strangers escaping the flesh

It happened in the shadows
The city became an open pit for the mall-bound
A streetless shadowland of overripe money lenders
And electric girls embracing ghosts

Written by © Nevada Kerr
30th September, 2000.
(Edited September 21, 2001).