watching the roses grow

by b.l. pawelek

i remember
you were there
green growth
with sundrop love
blooming beautiful
wild and young
chasing artifact stories
legends of true love
the infinite moment
i was there chasing your dream
watching the roses grow

months later
i came back from the desert
sand burnt and dried blood
eager for shade and cool water
you were cut down
a remaining slivered stem
in a color rose burst
growth severed but illustrated
a temporary captured
picture slipping away
to nothingness
your resurrecting future
beauty being cut away
and never bloomed
as i watched the
others grow

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b.l. pawelek grew up in western New York and has lived and hiked throughout the United States, Canada, and Far East Asia. Influenced mainly by Edward Abbey and Charles Bukowski. He has had writing and photographs published in dozens of publications throughout the country (including Silent Voices, HazMat Review, Luna Negra). He earned his MA in English from Loyola Marymount University, where he won the LMU Graduate Poetry Award for three straight years (1998-2000) and the LMU Graduate Fiction Award (1999). Current writing projects include non-fiction pieces about Eddie Slovik and the Loneliest Road (Amboy Road) as well as consistent entries in blpawelek@blogspot.com. He recently completed his first novella, “case 11512”. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife, son, and daughter.

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Back to Issue Three: Spring 2009