Bronwyn E. Haynes and Paul R. Wellons

On Sorrow
Bronwyn E. Haynes

How does one write sorrow?
It is not exactly bar-napkin
or business-card material--
it is too deep, too wide,
to be written on such small surfaces.

It must be deep enough that if a reader
leaps in, there will be the sensation
of drowning--but once settled,
feet flat on the bottom,
it will be only neck-deep.

It must be heavy enough to imply
forever; to cause the reader
to contemplate how it would be
to carry this weight always,
but not so heavy that it cannot be moved.

Most importantly, it must breathe--
not as if it were vibrantly alive,
or as if it could fly away,
but instead as if it were dying.
It should flutter against the reader's palm

as if it might perish at any moment.


Give Me Fire
Paul R. Wellons

Like part of a macabre parade, Lance Corporal David Edge jogged behind a five-ton truck as it moved down a nameless Fallujah street. The truck spewed hot black smoke from its tailpipe and into Edge’s sweating face. more