Valentine Voyeur

The red auteur

PHANTOM SIGHT. Image by Thomas Nguka

Vampy in vermilion…
Our sacred month goes by in scarlet seconds
A pair of mine and yours, shared sight
In erudite eyes
Ready in regret, vituperative homage, venerate
Picture-perfect equanimity pulse as equations
Yet you breathed asterisms as I licked only
Lonely icy carmine cubes notice me airy adroit
Angel adorned with garnet wings so CLING to
Me and fly through raspberry skies, deliverance
Unto our strawberry fields
Mmmm, cherry-flavored kisses consequential
If only you knew my nomad name, my florid
Face crimson to the tender touch of muchness
And nothing at all, apocryphal afterglow
An anathema (!)
But I’m a man with a plan, a lovesick lilliputian
Darkhorse dealing cards of crimson hearts and
Hands of feted fated predestination paragon
Pathways so rouse sleeping roses renditioned
With thorns
Sorrel scorn for paramours calling you theirs
Ha, I haven’t retracted coy cloistered curtains
Nor pulled BACK my mahogany mask masking
Intentions iniquitous, incendiary WiLdFiRe, so
Sooner or later
Sanguine or loquacious
We’ll share welkin wonders of a whimsical world
Together forever ever clear ever near ever dear
Until the day you die, and my monomaniacal (!!)
Mind transfixes its transcendent tyro target

On.
The.
Next.
Perfect.
PRODIGY.

© Edward Swafford 2025

PAPERCUT. Image by Thomas Nguka

Last February, I wrote this obsession-crazed piece for a Valentine’s Day poetry contest in What Is Love To You - a publication on the *other* platform.

I won! The requirement was to mention the color red somewhere in the poem, so I decided to weave differing shades of red throughout.

Speaking of contests…

The results of the Black Coffee Poetry - Juried Writing Contest are in, and the judges and I are polishing the announcement! We’ll be posting the full download on Substack and Medium.

We received 34 entries and were blown away by SO many s-t-e-l-l-a-r works of art.

For those of you not familiar with the prizes:
1st - $50 USD
2nd - $30 USD
3rd - $15 USD

Plus, six shortlisted entries! I think we should hold our next writing contest for Substackers!! There are some undeniable talents around these poetic parts.

Graphic created by Harry Sinclair.