Old Prose [test post]

The Heights

embittered gardener
lady soldier
depressed housewife
with her
silent child
ambiguous computer salesman
dog daddy
Second Lifer--missing this one?

grieving photographer
reticent nurse
fundraiser without a cause
henna-haired teacher and her
good ole' boy plumber
with
forked tongue
trapped teenager on the cusp
who will he become?

the silent gamer on the roof
oil painter
big women
with small dogs and
too many divorce stories to mention.

the stalled academic
canary lady
shadow lurking lesbian
creative writer behind closed blinds
how can she see?

the woman with her broken
bleeding
heart in her hands
the high-minded and the righteous
the lost
the defeated.

all living in genteel poverty
healing or hiding?
perhaps gathering themselves to take
that great leap of faith back
into the world of the living?
or
are they too afraid to move
ticking off the days
until they are released
from this particular vale of tears.

*March 5, 2005