A Desolate Rural Landscape Scattered with Weathered Wooden Fences

Digital Photography 4032 × 3024 pixels

Lawrence Bridges'photographs have recently appeared in the Las Laguna Art Gallery, the HMVC Gallery in New York, and the ENSO Art Gallery in Malibu. He created a series of documentaries for the NEA’s “Big Read” initiative, including profiles of Ray Bradbury, Tobias Wolff, and Cynthia Ozick. He lives in Los Angeles. You can find him on IG: @larrybridges

Harrowing

Richard Stimac

		

Dante wrote of Jesus’ descent to despoil Sheol of souls
and prove, for uncountable reasons, He was King of the Dead
as well of the Living. Landslides and crumbled walls attested.
Virgil gave witness, as if that were enough to prove truth.
Farmers have their season too when they grind iron teeth
across newly furrowed tillage to break the earth
into fine tilth fit for sowing that cycle’s seeds
according to the scriptural writing of an almanac.
We all want to believe in a Savior who feeds starving children,
comforts grieved mothers, saves fathers from burying their dead,
rebuilds walls, rehangs doors, resets bricks, and mends rent curtains.
Be it politicians or patriarchs, protest marches and candlelight vigils,
or bedtime stories, philosophies, ideologies, identities, or standpoints,
the promise of one last go around is too strong for us to pass.

Author's Bio

Richard Stimac lives in St. Louis, Missouri (USA). He has published a poetry bookBricolage(Spartan Press), two poetry chapbooks, and one flash fiction chapbook. In his work, Richard explores time and memory through the landscape and humanscape of the St. Louis region. He invites you to follow his poetry on his Facebook page: “Richard Stimac poet.”