A Letter
I write to you from waiting for the world to end. I will leave this in a desk drawer. I sat here for many years. The buyout transformed it into furniture.
I put the best face on things. I adhere to routine. I do not discuss it. Sometimes I think about buying a gun. But I do not know what I would do with it.
The future used to look like the present except a little bigger like it was in a mirror. I felt like I could walk to it.
Lately, I have started going to a different bar. It is long and narrow and smoky. It is lit with Christmas lights and has Madonnas and tinsel and country music. I listen to the jukebox. I think about furniture. I drink until continuity breaks.
I do not know what it will be like on the far side of the end. It makes me anxious. I wanted to say that to someone. So I write to you. I do not know who you are.
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Author's Note
I had a dream about walking into a space made from letters written by people abandoned by contemporary capitalism. I forgot most of what I saw there. Except this one.
#OWS
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Seriously good. Just the right balance between hope and fear. Great #OWS contribution. Reposted at <a href="http://kaffeinkatmandu.tumblr.com">kaffe in katmandu</a>.
Yes. Great piece, Stephen -
"The future used to look like the present except a little bigger like it was in a mirror. I felt like I could walk to it."
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Love the tone of this piece.
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Marcus is right. Perfect for OWS. Standing ovation. Fave, et al.
Excellent. *
I liked this very much. The future looking bigger inthe mirror--great line.
Waiting for the world to end? There's a new beginning in every ending: possibly, depending.
thanks very much for the reads, comments and faves. they're much appreciated. i like this guy. he seems trapped by an inability to imagine a future that's different from what he knew. he cant think his way into it, doesn't have a sense of possibilities. he only has a sense of what is ending. he's trapped by that in a way i think a lot of folk are. a general malaise of our times, i guess.
This makes me ache, Stephen.
Sad and powerful. *
Hurts, in the best of ways.
Fave.
Adept *
Very interesting take on mortality here, lyrical and poetic, dark, liked this a lot.
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I enjoyed the sense of fatalism here. Great tone. Nice.
Fave.
Lordy, this a powerful poem! A+ Terrific. Fav.
"The future used to look like the present except a little bigger"
I like this!
woah. thanks so much for the reads, comments and faves. really pleased this letter resonated with you.
"I drink until continuity breaks." Powerful story. I'm left wondering if he should hold on.*
"It makes me anxious." Amen. *
I so enjoy your work.
fabulous.. everything about this.
heart wrenching, is all I can tell you.
There's a film-noir aura of post apocalyptic darkness and light in this piece that really makes it work for me. And some very tight turns of phrase. Well done.
"The future used to look like the present except a little bigger like it was in a mirror. I felt like I could walk to it."
What a killer sentence. Amazing. The whole piece is on-point in illustrating the uncertainty of what lies beyond a personal disaster like losing a job. Thanks for sharing.
Timely.