Daily Archives: October 11, 2010

THE DOWN SIDE

BY HOWIE GOOD

It rained all day and all night and all the next day. You know why – the fire king’s daughter. She was lolling naked on the red divan, remembering the obscure objects in her parents’ medicine cabinet. Have you ever seen the lining of a potato bug’s wings? Very like the opening of the season for executions. People were afraid to fall asleep. They discussed in hoarse whispers the enigma of the blue guitar. I wasn’t there. I hadn’t been born yet. But a tiny bird hopped about the branch, like your hand waving goodbye at the end of someone else’s arm.

– – –

Howie Good is the author of a full-length poetry collection, Lovesick, and 21 print and digital poetry chapbooks, including most recently, Hello, Darkness, available from Deadly Chaps.

Advertisement