The Bête Noire Progression

by Joris Soeding 

three friends reacquainted at the funeral of the fourth

in hours, champagne, full moon, and rain at the Crescent View Cemetery

one has been bitten on her arms

Sammy meows at open doors of the other

third with small fires on his floors

Chopin playing on the piano with no one on the bench

this is all supposed to last for one moon cycle

JORIS SOEDING's third chapbook, In Between the Places Where Night Falls, will be published by Lummox Press in 2015. His poems have appeared in publications such as Columbia Poetry Review, Concho River Review, MiPOesias, Pebble Lake Review, San Pedro River Review, Spillway, The Prose-Poem Project. He is a 5th/6th grade Writing teacher in Chicago, where he resides with his wife, son, and daughter.