Peruser | Stop | Desert | Needless

by Nina Longfield

Peruser

Silent, calm, he reads. Words wash over him, bathing him in literacy. He sits isolated, solitude crushing the fragile space. Yet he is not alone, for words provide company and comfort. In black and white reality of letters, he is shielded.

STOP

Driving, I came upon a stop sign at the intersection. The sign said "STOP" in it's reflective red, octagonal way. So I stopped. The road continued on but I stayed stopped.

Desert

Some days, the solitude is so palpable it can be touched.

Needless

You, manager, ask the job to be done. So we do it. Then you, manager, grumble and moan because the job you assigned was done and done well without need of you. Our competency effectively fractured your authority and our need to be managed, controlled. In so doing we dissolved your requirement for managing, your need to manipulate outcomes, your want to be the needed hero. So you, manager, annihilate our sense of security, because you can.

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AUTHOR NOTES:

Nina Longfield

Nina lives and writes in western Oregon. She writes in order to maintain a sense of sanity (though her friends & family might not be able to see it) between working full–time and attending school full–time. Nina is a senior at Marylhurst University. This is the first time her poetry has been published. When not frolicking in the woods of the coastal mountains, she enjoys driving topless whenever the weather allows.