Rocket Man
I said my goodbyes, turned back to the shore, stopped trying to find you. It took me awhile, took me a few more pink striped skies, a few more mountains, a few more years. But I found my way, wrested my skin from yours, saved myself from going under. I talk to you still, the way we always talked, close and deep without platitudes or pretense. You know I have forgiven you for all the ways you almost took me with you. You didn’t mean to, never meant for me to get swept into your undertow. You tried to stop it but I was desperate for a reason to fade away. Wanted someone to blame for my disappearance. But that’s not how it was for us, two people too honest for games. We stood naked in our presence and our absence. The day they carried you down the stairs and later, into the oven, I still belonged to you. I belong to you still. You had already told me that where you were going I was not yet and could not be. It took me some time before I believed you, but now I do. I am here and you are there. You are, through me, and I am, through that dark mirror of soon and never. I see the stars and the planets stretch out between us, feel the worlds fall down like rain.
Lorette C. Luzajic is the founder and editor of The Ekphrastic Review, a journal devoted entirely to literature inspired by visual art. She earned a degree in journalism from Ryerson University in Canada, but went on to pursue a more creative path. Her prose poetry and small fictions have been published widely, including Bright Flash Review, Free Flash Fiction, New Flash Fiction, L.A. Cultural Weekly, South Florida Poetry Journal, Indelible, Poemeleon, Gyroscope Review, and more. She has been nominated for several Best of Net and Pushcart prizes. Her flash story recently won first place in a contest at Macqueen’s Quinterly. Lorette’s most recent book, Pretty Time Machine, is ekphrastic, and she is at work completing another collection of prose poems and small stories that respond to art. Lorette is also an award-winning visual artist with collectors in 25 countries from Estonia to Qatar. Visit her at www.mixedupmedia.ca or www.ekphrastic.net.
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