Sunday, June 22, 2014

Stories, Big and Small


 awyn art




Isis the goddess gets a candle lit in her honor
by a newly initiated young witch
crafting healing spells when the 
novenas failed,
while ISIS the terrorbringers storm fist-thrusted 
'cross gun-swept sands -
caravan style -
in identical new Toyotas.

In a dark, rented room
a lonely man in a faded armchair smokes a borrowed
cigarette,
wondering where his life went.

In a loft, a frustrated painter
hurls his prized ivory paintbrush at the wall,
its splattered flecks bringing unexpected
inspiration.
           "At last!"

At the BookFair, a writer bemoans his perennial
     unpublishedness.
Leaves with a pocketful of
scribbled hopes.

In the suburbs, a woman slips into her nightdress, aglow -
the letter that brought forgiveness within reach
on the night table, wedged between
the jar of pink face cream and her
chipped porcelain pillbox.
           “I am loved.”

A child looking out a school bus window
witnesses a brief  act of kindness;
hasn’t yet learned that big word called ‘empathy’
but instantly knows its opposite,
suddenly arm-pinched by the bully in front.

A soldier looks death in the eye and gets a reprieve,
his life forever changed.

Everywhere, a story
and stories behind the stories
behind the stories -
too many unwritten,
untold or
unheard.

~~ A.W.