POETRY
Paradise by Jaime Lee Moyer

flashquake, Spring 2006, Vol. 5, Iss. 3

The notes he left were
Always the same,
Gone looking for paradise,
Be back soon,
A small kindness, he thought,
So she wouldn't look for
Someone who wasn't there,
The way she peeled
Onions underwater
To spare him the fumes.

He only went seeking
When drowning in ennui,
The putty dried and
Cracked in the seams
Of their union,
And he, ever kind,
Slipped quietly away
When she closed her eyes,
Sparing her the strain
Of hollow conversation
Over morning coffee,
Never planning to
Be gone long,
Or changing in quite
The ways he did,
Chasing after
Visions of paradise
Found and lost in a day,
That faded away with
The word hello.

Jaime Lee Moyer lives next to a river in the wilds of Ohio. She writes books and stories as well as poetry, assisted by two warrior kittens who help her chase the Muse. In her spare time she is an Associate Editor for Ideomancer Speculative Fiction. On most days, she can honestly say life is good.

Her poetry has appeared in Kenoma, Between Kisses, The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Strong Verse, Illumen, Star*Line, Raven Electrick, The Sword Review, and Aeon Speculative Fiction and she has work forthcoming in future editions of Star*Line, Dreams and Nightmares, Mythic Delirium, and Poe Little Thing.

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