Scott Russell Morris
Water fell down the eaves
in thick ribbons, cascading into dusty puddles
while I clutched you, just ten days old.
The rain chilled the air;
you warmed my chest
and contentedly muttered.
I hushed and shushed and rocked,
my eyes alternating between you and the rain,
the arrival of each a miracle, a relief.
We were as content as we might have been,
you and I, in the rain
I had waited for all winter.
This is life, I said,
then whispered you a warning:
This is not the whole world.
This is just one day.
Scott Russell Morris is a faculty member at the University of Utah Asia Campus. His work has previously appeared in Brevity, The Chattahoochee Review, Proximity Magazine, and elsewhere.
John Chavers enjoys working as an artist and photographer. His work has appeared in The Oakland Review, The Emerson Review, THAT Literary Review, Azahares Literary Magazine, Saw Palm, and The Healing Muse. Recent juried exhibitions include the Missoula Art Museum, Foundry Art Center, Amarillo Museum of Art, Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery, Orr Street Studios, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, and Purdue University Fountain Gallery. This coming September he will be the artist in residence with The Gilfélagið Society in Akureyri, Iceland.