Issue 7 - Vanessa Frisinger

Lone Star Ranch, Aurora, OR

Shared Stories

“What stories can you tell?”

She wanted me to talk, to fill the still,

starry night with something less boring

than the porch swing.

Well, there was the day your uncle married me,

long before you were conceived;

the church festive, full of celebrants and well-wishers

and all the pretty little girls in frilled dresses

promise sparking like stars at dusk;

the Daystar rising in our hearts.

Or the night your cousin, angry and chafing

didn’t come home,

scarring the night with

lines of confusion,

the plumb line of emptiness;

when all the stars rotted and fell from their places.

But yesterday, we (and the dog)

slept in our yard by a fire; we were awed

by stars popping out of grayness

till the sky sparkled with spilt glitter;

and one familiar constellation blazed out east

beckoning us to follow.

But let me tell instead

the story of a little girl.

Once… night rose up,

crested and crashed around her.

So she stared down the onslaught,

and barred her soul with a star.

--Vanessa Frisinger

Vanessa Frisinger resides in Tucson, Arizona.  She and her husband have been blessed with one son, one daughter, a dog and scores of good friends and family.

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