Genre: Elegiac

TEARDROPS TWO

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“TEARDROPS TWO” is best categorized as a lyrical contemporary poem blending romantic elegy, dream pop surrealism, and refrain-based confessional verse with strong musical and song-like qualities. Its language is simple yet emotionally charged, creating an atmosphere that feels intimate, wistful, and electrically surreal at once. The alternating dedications establish a mirrored structure that reinforces themes of reciprocity, separation, identity, and emotional exchange. The repetition functions musically rather than redundantly, producing a soft rhythmic pulse that resembles a melancholic ballad or synth-pop lyric. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“TEARDROPS TWO”

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for me,
reborn and renewed
the one you inspired
to rise from the gloom
this one is for me,
and the other for you

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for you,
the supercharge queen
the one with too many
to choose, in between
this one is for you,
and the other for me

teardrops, two,
in a bottle on the sand
once upon a time
i held the lightning in my hand

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for me,
the one tried and true
the one who constructed
a folklore undue
this one is for me,
and the other for you

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for you,
the one i set free
the one with those eyes,
yet too blind to see
this one is for you,
and the other for me

teardrops, two
in a bottle on the bay
once upon a tide
i watch the lightning drift away

Copyright © 2026 Robert Myrnyj | All rights reserved.
The poems and literary works presented here are original creations by the author.
Unauthorized copying, reproduction, distribution, modification, or public display of this
content is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

RUST AND THISTLE

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“Rust and Thistle” was written in 2026 as part of the back story of the narration character in the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella. It is a Dark Gothic work wrought with ghostly tones and woeful elegy, developed most ironically out of roadside decay. It is a snapshot given in the “Third Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook collection. This poem warrants a trigger warning, so be advised.

“RUST AND THISTLE”

a low wind moans and
flutters basted tufts of roadkill bristle
gangly shadow fingers
scratch and claw at grit and grizzle
fly fandango carcass
bloated rancid and abysmal

along the river road

on the cemetery lawn
a sleeping fawn,
she was my bride
once upon a time
wrapped in linen lace and
scabs and gauze,
a memory survived
once upon a time
but when the shadow of
the butler touched
her shoulder from behind
once upon a time
the mirror of her soul
collapsed to fragments
in her mind
once upon a time

once upon a time

an old wind moans and
mutters distant puffs of railroad whistle
and there ahead i am, i am
a tin can wrapped in rust and thistle
the skulking shadow lingers
last remains but no dismissal

along the river road
once upon a time
along the river road

Copyright © 2026 Robert Myrnyj | All rights reserved.
The poems and literary works presented here are original creations by the author.
Unauthorized copying, reproduction, distribution, modification, or public display of this
content is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

ANTHRACITE

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“Anthracite” is a Ghost Elegy with a strong Working Class tone. Written in 2025, it was initially developed to be a narrative for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, but its strong sense of period and place at the surface level rendered the work seemingly incongruent with the other elements. Though the avid reader will recognize the “buried” romance sub-story and the linkage to the main story line of the novella, “Anthracite” serves more accessibly as a stand-alone Americana piece.

“ANTHRACITE”

i died in the mines
back in ninety-four
me and my dreams
no more sunshine no more

down before the roosters crow
never saw much of the sun anyway
holidays maybe
and sundays for church
provided the skies up above weren’t gray

down into the black of the hole
lamplight and torches, like stars and the moon
but the timbers cracked
like the thunder claps
and the mine it collapsed and it took me too soon

i died in the mines
back in ninety-four
me and my dreams
no more sunshine no more

so there i lay infused with coal
my soul is blackened like my skin
i hear there a voice,
a light there bursts in
sunshine sunday, where have you been

the voice it carries like a song
it dances round without an end
but the light it turns
and it waltzes by
and i doubt it ever pass this way again

they sealed up the mine
back in ninety-five
me and my dreams
and another twelve more

a somber trumpet on the wind
a prayer alifting into heaven
they built it with bricks
through the year of o’six
and they remembered us there in o’seven

i died in the mines
back in ninety-four
me and my dreams
no more sunshine
no more

Copyright © 2026 Robert Myrnyj | All rights reserved.
The poems and literary works presented here are original creations by the author.
Unauthorized copying, reproduction, distribution, modification, or public display of this
content is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.