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| Dramatic Sky by Vera Kratochvil |
Smooth Operator
They sat
Two small children
In the gloaming dusk
One with a tongue peeking
From a corner in concentration
The other with empty eyes
Filling a page of hearts with color
They sat
Together each a single siblinged link
Imprisoned behind the chain
Linked fence puzzling with pensive
Persistent crayons and pencils
The essentials of the unknown recipe
To feed his signaled smile that they
Were finally forgiven for causing
The blossoms of beating
That rose on a cheek here
A thigh there
a trace of unsucked blood on a tooth
They sat in desperate dusk falling to night
Together working toward his forgiveness
earlier that day they had dialed up
the Operator of Rage
then summoned, now they worked
with empty stomachs and cramped fingers,
the table piled with stacks of sneers
Rejected submissions in this relentless
Into the lengthening shadows
contest -
Deadlining nightfall slowly pushing
possibility of the ephemeral prize
"Permission-To-Sleep"
Slithering heavily on their shoulders as
They sat
