Every Conversation Begins with a Lie by Brent Vickers

Common tongue passed back

and forth, tenuous communication

stretched over a canvas

of silence--not to be mistaken for nothing;

Holding back confusing solitude

with isolation, blank pages 

with absence, the candlelight stationary

along your body's candid angle of repose, 

as your computer plays a song

you used to dance to

and then:

silence, again. Phrases of mute

stares over empty glasses of wine

building truth in between the stretching 

white noise of our thin, tired language.

Brent Vickers has been publishing poetry and critical analyses globally for over a decade. He has been featured in Persona: Literary Magazine, Churrosura Literary Magazine, Belleville Park Pages, and Peach Fuzz, among others. He currently lives in Houston, TX, US with his cat, Fiona. When he isn’t writing, he works in an emergency room, and enjoys discussing literature, film, and music while drinking at a bar with friends.