David Morgan O'Connor
At the Notable Tree In the car back from Taoswe float low-riding silent. There are good memories anddaggers that sever hearts when you close your eyes to the musicengulfing past joys, and yet out the window, maybe inside too,beside you may sit future joys yet to be trusted, if there remainssuch a quality, this person is happy at least from the outsideunder the Lawrence tree on the ranch we took turnslaying down on the bench where O’Keeffe all upside downsaid, eventually there was nothing left to do but paint. And our photoswill never do the light justice no matter how much we shareno matter how many likes we get no matter how much we believein each other and hope the space in the world and heart is finiteand limited as miles per hour we arrive to separate bedswithout incident at night claiming to have enjoyedthe celebrated day trip. { early } up ramp into sunlurking chaosearth-slide on each raylost thoughtlate-blooming moodswept-off drawing-boardunworthy crumb of morning cringenews hungryour last unsolved crosswordpuzzle asmoney eats memoryquestions:any plans till sunset?blatant sting of wonderreturns… Genesis of Steerage There are weeks when we’re glassa welcoming sea not a horizon ripple blame it on a phone call perhaps lunar swivela seismic shift in center earth jarring comments reefing jib out of hand lines lost all trailed—haystacked-wake perhaps the anchor dropped unawares a ballast springs a leak right when the storm fronthits the cabin below too small for two captains three cooks the broth inedible spoilt navigation souredand all we can do is hold one another and pray David Morgan O'Connor is from a small village on Lake Huron. After many nomadic years, he is based in Albuquerque, where a short story collection progresses. He contributors monthly to; The Review Review and New Pages. His writing has appeared in; Barcelona Metropolitan, Collective Exiles, Across the Margin, Headland, Cecile's Writers, The Great American Lit Mag, Bohemia, Beechwood, Fiction Magazine, After the Pause, The Great American Lit Mag (Pushcart nomination) , The New Quarterly and The Guardian. Tweeting @dmoconnorwrites