the shapes moving in
indistinct grays
on the screen,
horses in procession
and long cars,
solemn and slow,
the crowds of people
line the wide streets,
the coffin
draped in a flag
I am
in our living room
watching
with my father
something we know is important,
but I am too young
to know about bombs
and missile submarines
and silos
coming awake,
I don’t even know
there was a crisis
that nearly went hot
between us and
the Iron Curtain,
only that
someone had been killed
suddenly
and everyone
knew about it,
the woman
draped in black –
his young widow
with children in suits,
walking,
not on horses,
not in limos,
and it looks as though
it might be cold
where they are,
and not long
after I knew enough
to draw pictures
of mushroom clouds,
the little and the big,
so strong
that even a dinosaur
screaming in rage
could not
hope to win against it
BIO: Richard Magahiz tries to live an ordered life in harmony with all things natural and created but one that follows unexpected paths. He wrangles computers as a day job but imagines a time when life might center around other things. His work has appeared at Eccentric Times 3, Shoreline of Infinity, Star*Line, Dreams and Nightmares, Eye to the Telescope, Call Me [When It’s Over], Haiku Pea, and ubu. His website is at https://zeroatthebone.us/