Bio
Ann Christine Tabaka is a nominee for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry. She placed Third in Vita Brevis Best Poem Contest January 2018. She was selected as Poet of the Month for January 2018 and interviewed by Kingdoms in the Wild. She lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking. Chris lives with her husband and two cats. Her most recent credits are Page & Spine, West Texas Literary Review, Oddball Magazine, The Paragon Journal, The Literary Hatchet, The Stray Branch, Trigger Fish Critical Review, Foliate Oak Review, Bindweed Magazine, The Metaworker, Raven, RavensPerch, Anapest Journal, Mused, Apricity Magazine, The Write Launch, The Stray Branch, Scryptic Magazine, Ann Arbor Review, The McKinley Review.
Trigger Warning
We don’t make love any more,
nor greet each other at the door.
Years laid rusty, corroded dreams.
Age deals romance a mortal blow.
Time can be so cruel,
draining life from lives.
A thief that robs passion,
erasing it from the slate.
Whispered words of love,
now left at the doorway
of an empty room.
While a cold bed cries out
to lonely blankets on the floor.
No more looks of ardor,
nor soft engaging smiles.
Gifts of flowers long decayed,
only memories prevail.
Anguish-bit lips fight back tears.
Flames of the heart extinguished,
Leaving only lukewarm ashes
choking for oxygen,
As glowing embers die.