Dave Ruslander

Inside Out


I can feel it welling up inside.
A bobcat claw rips the elk,
powerful, fast, frightful.

The endorphins flow in my brain.
These feelings overwhelm me,
I try to keep them tamped

but like a snake who
bites without thought
the blackness rises like sap.

I embrace the anima I become,
Color leaves me and I stalk
in black and white,

cold, calm, tenacious, the hunter.
There is no guilt
nor care of consequence

only wont for dark aggression.
How do I explain Mr. Hyde
when my outer persona returns?



Waiting

Look how the light
is just out of reach.
Here I sit, unable to move,
my equanimity lost,
everything is grey.
I bleed black holes.




Morning Rituals

Comb wet hair squinting in a steamy mirror.
My profile appears in a sideways
glance at my reflection,
Alfred Hitchcock looks back.

Slip on the requisite khakis and polo shirt,
slide the change from the bureau and watch
gnarled hands melt into the burl sheen.
It's always the same but today I feel old.



Dave Ruslander has bipolar disorder but is able to work and create. He lives on his horse farm in Virginia and works as a computer network engineer. He's been published in numerous e-zine and print publications.




Melisande Luna Kristine Karinen Richard Jordan Freada Dillon Dave Ruslander Jennifer Arbour