BSJ

The Butler Scholarly Journal

Category: Creative Writing

  1. For Henryk

    What have those watery globes in industrial goggles seen?Frozen lakes, dance halls, unexpectedGoodbyes, I’m sure. Locked vaults of anaesthetic and no Combination. You’ve trapped me in those unbroken Codes. I know you want to forget,But every mispronunciation Reminds me of what I’m lacking. A name with no recollection;A name with no language. You’re no angel just a vulnerable Old man broken by his past. And that breaks Me. I’ve been mourning my history Since before I was born. You deserve memorial But, how can I remember you when you won’t let me?

  2. oh, to be a rose upon your cheek!

    I have a memory of you, one that can never be corrupted by the passage of time. It was in a garden in June.   There you lay in this expanse of green, this garden of ours. You had collapsed by a rose bush, the blushing petals of one low- lying flower rested upon your cheek. You looked at me, lying beside you, eye to eye, nose to nose and you grinned at me. You closed your eyes. I admired you, all of you; the soft line your lashes form, the curve of your dark pink lips, the light you…

  3. The Questioning Closet

    “It’s locked.” “No it’s not.” “I’m telling you it is!” “Let me try.” I stand, brush past her purposely, take the yellow door handle with both of my deceptively strong arms and pull. Yank. Pathetically lurch and heave. It’s locked. “Shit.” “I told you.” I hate that she can say that, “Is this a joke? Did you do this?” She stops. Her amused face goes dead pan and bitter right in front of me, “Wow Em.” I falter. Moron. It’s always the phrases I don’t filter that go on to sting. Normally when I manage to damage a conversation, I’ll…