Ron Stottlemyer - "Stray" and "Wide Awake"
"Stray" is based on a childhood memory that emerged out of nowhere several months ago. It was a raw fall day years and years ago when I was four. At that time in my life, my dad and uncle seemed like powerful giants, capable of anything. I can still see that scruffy dog staggering out into the cinder lane that led down to the house and tool shed. It was growling faintly, muzzle foaming. I, of course, had no clear idea about what was wrong or even what "death" meant, had no understanding of why the adults around me were suddenly alarmed. But now I hear the rifle's crack echoing into the hills, and I can finally feel pain at the suffering and death endured by this humble, cast-off life.
"Wide Awake" came from an unsettling experience of insomnia, something we all have, especially in these times. At 3 a.m. I found myself at the back door looking out into the night. Houses around the neighborhood, to my bleary eyes anyway, seemed to be draped with black shrouds. Sleep would only bring up another anxious dream. Then I noticed beautiful Orion overhead, its hourglass shape righted straight up to start another hour. The answer to the moment's question? Stop obsessing. Shut the door. Go back to bed.
"Wide Awake" came from an unsettling experience of insomnia, something we all have, especially in these times. At 3 a.m. I found myself at the back door looking out into the night. Houses around the neighborhood, to my bleary eyes anyway, seemed to be draped with black shrouds. Sleep would only bring up another anxious dream. Then I noticed beautiful Orion overhead, its hourglass shape righted straight up to start another hour. The answer to the moment's question? Stop obsessing. Shut the door. Go back to bed.
Ron Stottlemyer lives in Helena, Mt. After a long career of teaching/scholarship in college across the country (B.A. M.A., Ph.D), he is returning to his life-long love of writing poetry. Along with writing, he has a passion for amateur astronomy, Mid-Eastern cooking, and for living with the moment. After starting to send out poems this past spring, he has recently published in The Alabama Literary Review, The Sow's Ear, Streetlight, The American Journal of Poetry, Stirring, and West Texas Literary Review.
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