Early Spring in the Mountains

It’s not raining so much as weeping.

Mist pours itself from every surface and I am at peace.

There’s something I find heartwarming in the

drab dampness of the morning.

 

The knowledge that spring is throwing the

Full weight of inevitability against the iron will of winter.

 

The passing of the season of darkness is written in the heavens and

Even the illiterate are learning to read.

 

I am securely bundled in my sweater and scarf.

A shiver of contentment makes its way up my spine.

 

It’s for days like this that I live.

 

Days when the anticipation of joys to come

press so intensely upon me.

Press on me not from above, weighing me down,

but from below, Propelling me upward on a

foam of laughter and delight.

 

All is right with the world and I am at peace.

Brother Man

A flash fiction piece I submitted to the Literary Leo contest.

 

Brother Man

Desperation wraps her steel arms around me, squeezing just so I know I’m still loved. It’s so cold and my feet are numb. I can’t remember my last meal and I just want to be warm. Maybe that place over on Jefferson can put me up. Anything’s better than sleeping in the bushes behind Kremer’s on a night like this.

Another squeeze reminds me that my belly is empty. It feels like a bag of rocks grinding together down there. If I hurry, I can get a buck from somebody outside of PT’s to get a cheeseburger. Score two bucks and I can get the hot apple pie with that.

As I stumble around the corner, I trip and bounce my head off a light pole. The sharp taste of blood brings me back just in time to see your eyes slide over me like the muzzle of a gun. Not a glance or a stare, but raw hate cuts through the neon glow from overhead.

The bouncers glare at me, daring me to come closer. I stand there clutching the post. In the knot on my forehead, I feel my heartbeat start dancing the tarantella. All this, and I think I’ve busted another tooth. I got to get warm. “Hey mister”, and that’s all I get out. You spin, and throw your words at me like rocks. “Fuck off and get a job”. With that, you’re in the safety of your car.

I die a little more inside even though there’s not much left. My life has come to this and I don’t even care. I’m all cared out. I start off down the sidewalk. You’ve lost the capacity to see anything between the bouncer and the limo and I’m here in the cold… brother.