As if the universe was an assault. We end up at the same place, at the same time, in the same ghost town after four years. How fast those four years must have gone for you. You spend time laying out the odds, gambling on the interior of a cloud collapsing. I heard you became a magician. Your life must have been a hell of a tabletop trick. I heard you learned how to tuck people in the cuff of your sleeve, that your mouth became a bleeding martyrdom. My four years were different. I changed the seasons around, kept it winter year round. I would have sent you pictures, but I knew you could not bear it. I quit taking risks that did not involve lightening. I learned to study wings. There were feathery wings, translucent wings, wings in a graveyard, and iridescent wings that turned to dust in my hands. I later thought it was best to study magic tricks. You know, the inner workings of salvation. I learned how to wait. |
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Reasons by Helen Vitoria
Filed under Helen Vitoria
Love the way you’ve used language here. Nicely done!
beautiful language and cadence, lyrical, and the voice, captivatingly on edge between empowerment and resignation. Wonderful imagery here, “I quit taking risks that did not involve lightening. I learned to study wings.” The way it threads to your closing, “You know, the inner workings of salvation. I learned how to wait.”
This is absolutely marvelous. Not a word wasted.
yes, it really is exquisite. i love that line “i quit taking risks that did not involve lightning.” I wish i’d written it.
beautifully done and felt throughout. i like that ending and the tension between the first and the last very short sentence – opening and closing.
Beautifully written, and what an ending! Love the magic tricks as salvation.
thank you ALL for all the lovely comments! Much appreciated!
Poetic images so strong throughout your narrative. I like the mysterious quality that keeps it just a little ungrounded.
Lovely work!
“I learned how to wait.” Always good advice. Nice one.
lovely, lovely, lovely. those last 2 lines – envy. peace…
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