'Hours of Tenebrosity' & 'Somewhere in Texas': Two Poems by Elyse Grant

HOURS OF TENEBROSITY
I’ll give you these nights
the ones spent under the desert moon at one of two bars in a Kingman town &
I’ll give you the nights
where you breach the state line and stumble into a casino oasis
where you collect stripper cards like sports cards &
I’ll give you the nights
in old town at Mort’s cigar bar
where you share a table with an old couple who’ve had too much to drink &
claim the live music sounds better from their apartment window &
I’ll give you this night
sitting at my faux marble table
watching the moth slam itself repeatedly against the lampshade hanging from the ceiling
under the roof where the cypress tree touches it gently with it’s leaves
while the humidity hangs in balance with the ocean breeze.
SOMEWHERE IN TEXAS
I met a rabbit the other day
his hair a dusty orange &
freckles spattered beneath
a pool of green & hazel bubble-spheres
& he watched me slide
between bodies because it was the first
time I dragged my toes in pebbled dirt
& I suppose he got tired of observing my
nervous feet so he shuffled to my side & held out his paw
& swayed to the strumming that floated
through the light-strings hanging from the starless sky.
Elyse Grant, a New Jersey native, is a freelance writer and enjoys writing poetry. She graduated from Stockton University with a B.A. in English, and placed first for the Jennifer Cakert Poetry award in 2015. In addition to writing articles, she is one of two poetry editors for Goat’s Milk Magazine. When she is not writing, you can find her reading some of her favorite authors, searching for new coffee roasts, and traveling throughout the states with her boyfriend. Find her on Twitter: @lysegrant, or on Instagram: @lookingfor_extraordinary.