Motel Matchbooks
Colin C. Post
The smoke rising from the factory’s stacks was a clearer white than was the snow that fell the day before. Cristo pulls out a present for him, a smuggled packet of South African dried meat, something my father refers longingly to as "Zoo Animal Jerky." And as children we never knew why the color of fire hydrants varied – some red, white, or yellow – but we had a number of theories to explain this inconsistency. Valued for its brevity. The horizon posed more of a mystery at night than it did during the day. Although modeled after bowling pins, the spires of this church are what set it apart. Only after they had tried to talk to each other underwater could they carry on conversations of any meaning outside of the pool. Whittle the white wood. We talked about pavilions by which, I mean we talked around them. Abraham Lincoln’s mood swings were removed from every one of our history textbooks. The birds said shirk, then chirp. The numbers and letters attributed to bus routes weren’t arbitrary at all, but had great significance to several members of the city council. Thus, Bill did not want his collection of red purses to be revealed. Was the Statue of Liberty made with the eventual green color in mind. Azaleas, peonies, sunflowers, daisies – all the flowers that would grow in the garden. But he claimed that he had never been colorblind. She thought I had said ponies. Mitch still doesn’t understand the finer points of habeas corpus. I used the writing on bathroom stalls as my own form of personal divination. But everything I now own was at one time featured on a late night infomercial.
Colin C. Post was born and raised in Grand Rapids, MI on a steady diet of Coca-Cola and identifying the model and make of Ford Mustangs. He currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA where he is studying Poetry. He is the Pennsylvania winner of the 2009 Open Thread Tri-State Chapbook Contest for his chapbook Aleph in the Cellar. A fascination with Arkansas could draw him elsewhere in the next couple of years. A portion of each day is spent reading comics, listening to Motown 45s (ABC a current favorite), and shadowboxing.
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