I walk through a dense wood
patient and quiet— a skilled hunter.

A Winchester 30/30 is cradled
in my arms,

two belts of ammunition slung
over my shoulders

vigilante style.

I pass by deer, squirrels, and a treed coon
but do not shoot.

At a pasture where a herd of cows
are lazily grazing,

I steal up to the gnarled wooden fence,
listen to their constant chewing,

their silly bell tinkling. Deftly
I center a target in my scope

and nail a large Holstein
just behind the left shoulder.

She jumps two labored, heartless steps
and falls. Perfection.

Other cows raise their awkward heads,
roll a bewildered eye heavenward,
and graze again.

I select my next target, and the next,
on and on.

A great feeling of relief comes over me.
Slowly I steal back through the woods

until I see the next field
with another gathering.

Scene 1

FADE UP INT HOME. An attractive but pouchy middle-aged man (B) is in bed. He sits up and looks out his bedside window. Birds hang upside-down from trees. The Sun & moon spin around in sky.

BIRDS: chirping

Scene 2

B GETS UP shaking head as if confused. Walks forward couple steps, misses door, runs into wall.

B: (mutters to self)

Scene 3

INT LIVING ROOM. An attractive middle-aged woman (E) sits on couch watching news. She turns head to look at B entering room, looking dazed. B turns and exits the room.

E: Are you looking for something, honey?

B: Orange juice.

Scene 4

SIDE SHOT OF B opening front door and looking down at newspaper.

CLOSE UP of newspaper.

CLOSE UP of B’s face looking at newspaper w/no hint of recognition.

FRONT SHOT of B closing door w/o getting newspaper.

MORE BIRDS: chirping

Scene 5

SIDE SHOT of B stepping over dog in study

V.O.: Does your life feel directionless?

Scene 6

SIDE SHOT of B passing CHILD A’s closed door upstairs.

V.O.: Do you not know which way to go when you wake up?

Scene 7

FRONT SHOT of B in sleeping CHILD B’s room w/door open, staring in.

V.O.: Do your kids yell at you when you get them lost on family vacations? Are you lost?

Scene 8

INFOGRAPHIC of ATLAS’s range of products, first full atlases and then smaller maps and then pocket-maps

V.O.: ATLAS delivers a wide range of atlases, maps, and other direction-based copy materials including but not limited to compasses, hats with weather-vanes, and polarized north-pointing cufflinks. If you can’t find your way, ATLAS can be sure to point you in the right direction!

Scene 9

WIDE SHOT of E in living room, looking at camera, as B enters open kitchenette and pours glass of water.

E: that’s not orange juice, honey.

B: (pours out glass and turns to fridge)

B: (walks repeatedly into fridge as E continues to look at the camera) (thumping)

convalescence 

it’s the long good-bye
a meandering saunter
& the slow hello

In my small brainstorm I wonder
if fire and ice shape the mind
of God. There storms
of cinder and snow swirl,
matter and antimatter collide,
and uncontrolled passion wars
with cold logic—a whirlpool
of imperfect balance,
how God created Himself
and then the world.

Beauty rooted your face
during the funeral reception
when you went to play in the rain
with the other boys.

Was it carved there
the night the tree fell in the storm
and Nature took your mother?
You absorb pain
lying in a puddle in your funeral clothes
making rain angels,
arms and legs twigs in the water
white-turned-brown Oxford stuck on you
in folds like bark.
Mud flares out of your nostrils to fall
through leaves of laughter.

You help me feel normal when I sit
and let the rain soak to the pith,
wash the human through the heartwood
like a child of the wild grieving.

And there was no dance,
no holy place
from which we were absent.
— Sapphic fragment

We were there when we were able,
taking you in our hearts’ arms
to step about the square at night
and then to share the lovers’ bed
until the night turned morning. 

We were there, making all the motions,
but not fully present in our heads.
Duty kept its own embrace for us,
and we sat waiting its clarion call
as if awaiting the promised taste of lips. 

We were young, a prime requirement
in the eyes of old men reluctant
to do foul deeds themselves
but not unwilling to call us to arms,
to insist the deeds required doing. 

We were young, too unskilled
and too impoverished to argue the call.
In any case, there was no battle,
no bloodied place on ground or ocean,
from which we were fully absent.

Alice Accuses the Jack of Hearts of Betrayal

I think you are really the Jack of Spades in disguise. Turn yourself over!

spoken words

elegant as calligraphy
syllables flowed
from her native tongue
Spanish
my understanding
heightened only
by graceful
movements
of her lips
and enchanting
glances
from her eyes

Hi Santa,

Mommy told us to “share” and to ask you how we doing?

If good, I want- Transformers and Spiderman toys.

And I want- Batman Legos and Ninjago Legos.

If we are bad-PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, Don’t tell mommy or daddy-

Thanks.

Hugs and more hugs,

Evan and Edward Pleasants

Haiku

water still, limpid
coloured emerald with trees
pale violet sky

              by Karen George

 ~ Found haiku composed from Vincent van Gogh’s Letters from Provence, p 30-31