Here and Now

Each fold and sharp crease between thumbnail and stark white paper hisses with outrage refined angles cutting remarks behind a simpering smile shooting baskets with the misshapen wads aim and miss each paper crane is formed from everything she was told she lacked her many failures bent into the correct aesthetic shape forced to acquiesce  throbbing fingers crimp and tuck seething warmth rising with each crumpled mistake these messy pages tell her battled tale... -the lie of perfection Angela Minard©  Artwork by  Duy Huynh

Something about the birds today pulled at my heart quietly tugging my awareness skyward  Everywhere I went I could feel the fluttering of wings on my skin like the sweet breath of angels  caressing the back of my weary neck Perhaps I had been looking down for too long the weight of darkness no longer screeching but continuing to listen intently as if silence was the monster hiding While doing yard work on this atypically warm autumn day  I at first mistook the starlings that caught my eye  for swirling leaves  until their musical trilling filled the air “Look up!” they seemed to be singing insistently  Pausing to rest tilting my gaze to the heavens my eyes widened as I watched in wonder the transformation  from onyx starlings to opalescent doves the honeyed sky dripping like slow rain weightless... cradled within the downy wings of protection -You are safe Angela Minard©  Artwork by Duy Huynh