Cobra Verde

Robert Francis

The camera was on the tripod – the button switched. And he sat before it and spoke.
I have poisons,
I have nothing to lose,
I speak to no one,
I wear no shoes,
The barefoot bandit breeds with shedding skin,
Hiding in the rooms with damp, rotting walls,
The serpent sits under filthy rags,
His refuge is deteriorating ruins.
I have poisons,
I have nothing to lose,
I stare for hours at plain walls,
I have time.
And I shall thatch my roof with human sinews,
Build pillars and walkways from skulls,
The barefoot bandit bides time with shedding skin,
Waiting underneath life’s scraps to pounce.
There is nothing but the rubble of old chocolate packets,
Dirty cutlery and stained clothes,
There is only the sound of litter, blown with a clang by the humming breeze.
And I have patience.

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Night Street Alfornon by Curtis Tappenden

Exhibition by Candlelight

Christopher Mulrooney

it flickers
and there is the truth
o silhouette
hand
cast

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The Beaver Pelt

Christopher Mulrooney

she called me by my first name
the museum guard’s daughter
to get the feel of the various furs
in her father’s shop
I queried skunk and rabbit even wolverine
and didn’t ask the way to the dam

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As Bright As Day by Bob Nunn
Copyright Bob Nunn
See: http://bob.nunn.art.googlepages.com/

Have a Wonderful Holiday

Zohar Teshartok

Impatiently Yitzhak tore the coloured wrapping paper off the retirement gift he had received from his work place and his eyes spotted an exquisite globe. After many years of devoted work at the travel office ‘Global Tours’, scarcely missing a day, he got a symbolic gift that expressed appreciation for his commitment and devotion to his work.

He placed the globe carefully on the table of his living room and looked at it from different angles. The surface was a coloured relief featuring mountains and valleys, deserts and seas in appropriate colours and concrete shapes. Another look taught him the names of the countries and their capital cities marked by a set of little flags, placed on models of miniature cities.

The globe itself was set in a wooden frame that served as a base for the axis around which it rotates. Arrows were attached to the frame pointing to the flag of the country and its capital at the end of the rotation. At that moment Yitzhak decided to rotate the globe and travel to the location pointed at by the arrow for a long vacation free of everyday worries.

As the globe rotated, Yitzhak gazed at it waiting to see where he was going to spend his spontaneous vacation. Lands and cities passed swiftly in front of his eyes while he tried to guess to what country the arrow would point when the rotation came to an end. Finally the arrow pointed to ‘Israel-Jerusalem’. The result came as a surprise to him, as he and his family had been residents of Jerusalem for five generations and he decided to try again, and like before he looked apprehensively to see where it would stop.

To his surprise the arrow again showed ‘Israel-Jerusalem’ and the same result was repeated after he had rotated the globe for the third time. This coincidence aroused his suspicion that the mechanism inside the globe was out of order from the very beginning. With his deft and skilful hands that he had used in the past to repair office equipment in the travel office aided by the technical sense that he possessed, Yitzhak dismantled the parts of the globe encircling the mechanism, and arranged them side by side on the living room table.

A thorough look at the mechanism showed him how the cog wheel and the metal parts of the set of small flags that rotated the globe worked in harmony. After a few slight alterations he assumed that he had achieved his aim and from then on he needed only a few minutes to reassemble the globe back to its original state in order to realize his plans for a vacation.

Certain that he had succeeded in restoring the mechanism of the globe, Yitzhak rotated it lightly. At the end of the rotation the arrow showed a different outcome – ‘Bern, Switzerland’. From his long experience as a travel agent he knew that at this time of the year the beauty of Switzerland is revealed in its full glory and the weather is eminently suitable for a long relaxed vacation. Therefore, he immediately began to make the necessary arrangements for his trip.

‘Global tours, Shalom, Nurit speaking. Can I help you?’ this was a new travel agent who had probably replaced him and therefore did not recognize him. However, this did not interest him as his mind was set on realizing his dream holiday as soon as possible and he requested tickets for a flight to Switzerland in business class for the coming day.

‘Sorry Sir, because of the holiday season all flights to the destination you requested are full for the next month. Could we interest you in other destinations such as Spain or Italy?’ Yitzhak did not believe his ears and refused to change his plans and accept her suggestion to fly to another destination although it might have been a good substitute.

The travel agent tried another suggestion: ‘Sir, if you are not interested in another destination abroad, perhaps I could suggest a wonderful holiday in the country. Do you know how beautiful Jerusalem is at this time of the year? You can spend a wonderful holiday there, Sir….’

Her suggestion was answered by loud shattering sounds. After Yitzhak had finished smashing the globe on the wall and tearing it to pieces, he went into the bedroom and locked the door. As long as it depended on him he would never leave it again.

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