GRAFFITI SUNSET • by Richard M. O’Donnell

 

 

	The fifties
	a time for reaching up
	for daddy’s hand
	as he points west
	between the giant elms
	to the sunset
	God’s watercolors dissolving
	and whispers
	   You can live one hundred years
	   and never see a more beautiful sky
	confirming all beauty 
	is temporary.
	 
	Then somehow
	someway
	someone
	decreed 
	it’s okay to spray graffiti on the sunsets
	jet exhausts crisscrossing the heavens
	airline ghetto tags
	cheating our children
	Of their hundred year sky.
 
 
 
Richard M. O’Donnell‘s works have appeared in Everyday Fiction, Sniplits, North Coast Review, Binaryorganic, Mind Fair, Kaleidoscope, Heartlands, Many Voices, The Gamut, Diskazine, The Alchemist, Telescope, Intro and The Plum Creek Review. His short story collection, Rice Wine, was published on Disk 1983, and he has received two Ohio Arts Council grants.  His has a MFA from BGSU. He is the co-founder of The Oberlin Writers Group where he is working on a scifi screenplay, The Main Street Project. His online publication links can be accessed at www.wormsview.com.     

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GRAFFITI SUNSET • by Richard M. O'Donnell, 3.5 out of 5 based on 17 ratings
Posted on November 3, 2009 in Literary
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10 Responses to “GRAFFITI SUNSET • by Richard M. O’Donnell”


  1. rumjhum biswas Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 am

    Beautiful and thought provoking.

  2. Angel Zapata Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 5:12 am

    Fantastic. Love it.

  3. PSC Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 6:46 am

    Agreed! Beautiful, visual & thought provoking! :)

  4. PSC Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 am

    Very visual. I love the images you invoke in this. Nicely done!

  5. Robin Herrnfeld Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    Nice, I like this a lot.

  6. Joan Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    Brilliant ideas and images! I love it.

  7. S.J. Higbee Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm

    Very strong, moving ending…

  8. Oonah V Joslin Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    I love this.

  9. Marc Latham Says:
    November 4th, 2009 at 1:33 am

    Yes, agree with its evocation and beauty.

    However, although I agree with the wonder of a natural sunset and reducing our carbon emmissions I must admit to loving seeing planes and their contrails in the sky at a visual and imaginary level: the daytime shooting stars as I see them in the distance.

  10. Errol Nimbly Says:
    November 11th, 2009 at 9:18 pm

    Pertinent. Beautiful.

    I hope that one day my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will get to read this in an English 12 textbook.

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