The Bandit
by Chuck Kramer
My face is a mask,
concealing my diseased heart,
protecting you from the virus
of my need, but it can’t hide
the hunger in my fierce,
blazing eyes as I lie and flatter,
luring you unconscionably
into my tangled, snarling web
where I will bare my fangs
and consume you to save myself.
PHOTO: “Men’s Spider Web Venetian Mask” found at masqueboutique.com.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Love is complicated – sometimes fulfilling, sometimes destructive. It always bares one’s heart and soul, making a mask a near necessity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chuck Kramer is a native Chicagoan who’s taught reading and writing in Chicago’s public schools. A poet who’s slammed at the Green Mill, his work has been published in Stray Bullets (an anthology of Chicago street poets) and numerous magazines. He has worked as a public relations writer, a freelance journalist, and a theater critic. Links to his poetry can be found at chuckkramer.webs.com.
Silver Birch Press 
Thanks for the reminder, Chuck, that loves needs a mask!