Balloon

Hunter

an almost invisible wraith...tremulous in its mannerisms...walks gently around a newly filled grave...tentative and brief in its movements...barely touching the ground with each step...its existence unknown to its dead compatriot...not deaded yet, it thinks…but soon to be deaded for sure...continuation impossible without constant companionship...

it floats around for a bit before nestling close to the headstone…its head rests upon it...an ephemeral, diaphanous cloak of nothing...waiting for a signal...an indicator of its next move...none come forth...not from the grave...not from the heavens...not the grass...the ground...the freshly turned mud...

around midnight…under a full moon…it awakens…startled by a nuzzling snout with a beastly cold nose…not deaded yet, it thinks again…the animal’s mouth utters a monstrous noise…ahh, it thinks…a fox…and the small creature begins to dig…driven perhaps by an ungodly odor coming from the grave…soon a trough appears under its paws…an air hole of sorts…a conduit between life and death…a pressure valve against unrelenting eternity… 

the fox prances aside and sits…cleans its paws, face and belly…its eyes all-seeing…as a peculiar wisp emerges from the vent in the earth…ephemeral and tremulous it sets a foot on the ground…gets its bearings…takes in the lay of the land…not deaded yet, it thinks…somewhat vexed at the jinx behind its predicament…but pleased at its release…now no longer bound up… 

a gentle breeze begins…ruffles the fox’s fluffy tail…blows the wisp against the headstone…into the arms of the waiting wraith…they blend to archaic perfection…ready to resume an ancient journey…but the fox swallows them…sounds out a dreadful cry…and saunters away from the open grave…

©kcasady2014

 

Pink

She wore pink the first time she noticed the shadow. It started following her the minute she stepped outside. She stopped. It stopped. She moved an arm. It moved an arm. Just like me she thought but she'd had enough fun with it and wanted to do something else. But it tailed her. Go away she told it but it attached itself to her feet. She shook them. Still it stuck. I don't want to play with you she said to it, you are no fun and you are not wearing pink. It returned nothing but silence. So she went back inside and put on her purple dress, her favorite, the one with sparkles down the sleeves. She looked at herself in the mirror. Perfect she thought and she went back outside. The shadow appeared again, attached to her feet, mirroring her every move but this time, it wore sparkly purple too. I love purple the shadow said to her. Oh, she said, me too! And they romped and jumped, climbed and swung for the rest of the day. As the sun went down, they parted ways. And she fell asleep that night thinking about her other purple dress, the one with sparkles on the front, the one she would wear tomorrow. ©kcasady2014

Always

Coexist

Still lush and full her black hair trembled in the breeze

A single curlicue lay matted against her forehead

Clinging by the grace of sweaty rivulets

Flowing through mystic facial creases

Dripping from a perfect nose

Nostrils wide with their last breath

Her slender unkissed neck 

Dreaming of lovers

Seeking sublime attachment

To her yet twitching body

Young in all its terror

Dressed in its crimsoned school clothes

The sweep of the blade sudden

No scream came from her pursed lips

Yet her eyes blinked eleven times

Defying her crime

Saluting her friends

He swung her bloody bauble head for all to see

Tossing it into a plastic bag 

Leaving it on the church steps

As a gift marking the end of Ramadan 

©kcasady2014

Neighborhood

Yielding