Black Ink

(WINDOWS OF THE NIGHT)

…the pictures in the windows of the night.

I’ve walked around another city block

like a stray cat in rays of neon light,

or like a second hand around the clock.

It looks like I have lived in my head for

twenty-four years twenty-four hours a day,

constantly trying to find an exit door.

I’ve tried to change and I have tried to stay

the same in some ways. I have stayed inside

my head, although I’ve tried to go away.

I’ve tried to run and I have tried to hide

myself from myself, hoping to replay…

…the pictures in the windows of the night. I’ve walked around another city block like a stray cat in rays of neon light, or like a second hand around the clock. It looks like I have lived in my head for twenty-four years twenty-four hours a day, constantly trying to find an exit door. I’ve tried to change and I have tried to stay the same in some ways. I have stayed inside my head, although I’ve tried to go away. I’ve tried to run and I have tried to hide myself from myself, hoping to replay…

(BLACK INK)

...too often. At night,

shadows can fight

while stars can sink

in the black ink

of the sky. And

then words can blend

with the things they

are written on way...

...too often. At night, shadows can fight while stars can sink in the black ink of the sky. And then words can blend with the things they are written on way...

Rick K. Reut: The author was born in 1984, in the USSR. He studied philosophy at EHU in Minsk, Belarus, and literature at Saint Petersburg State University, Russia. For most of his life after graduation, he has worked as a translator and a tutor of English as a foreign language.

Image: Unsplash, downloaded (https://unsplash.com/photos/a-city-street-filled-with-lots-of-traffic-at-night-AJ1TWGn5NiE) 2. 1. 2026.

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