Devon Balwit

At Home in the Castle

She sends me pictures from the castle of Frederick the Great,

foliage that juts from the walls, ceilings of unreachable gilt,

parquetry and chandeliers, clouds of putti.

Back home, I stride my own mad battlements,

baroque assemblages of suspicion and fret,

mazes and mirrors in which I’m forever getting lost—

proof that one needn’t be blue-blooded to erect

monuments to fantasy: all those shells in the grotto,

mouths agape, irritation become pearlescent.

Frederick watched his vengeful father decapitate

his lover, reason enough to disintegrate.

I have no excuse but proclivity, a sensitive bent.

How visitors strain to take in our prospects.

We have magicked quirks into fact.

Devon Balwit walks in all weather and has recently returned to life-drawing and cartooning. She edits for Asimov Press. Her most recent poetry collection is Spirit Spout (Nixes Mate Books, 2023). For more of her work, visit: https://pelapdx.wixsite.com/devonbalwitpoet