Literary Crumbs: Poems & Short Stories to Savor by D. Ryan Lafferty

  • Medusa

    I exhale in terror. Or is it simply exhaustion? I huff and wheeze a thin cloud of fog to rub awayyet another smudge on Athena’s prized shield.I feel anything, but heroic, hypnotized by the glare. Breathtakingly beautiful. A pun, as if anyone had time for stale humor. I choke on my own dry throat as Read more

  • All That We Will Leave

    Be mindful of the things you do, be careful what you say.Life is meant to be enjoyed and age the price we pay. Imagine it all ended; in fact one day it will.Would the things that keep you up at night even matter still? The fire of time is greedy, consuming all it sees… It Read more

  • Democracy Died with a Yawn

    It wasn’t a roar or explosion,no cheering or fanfare at all The dirge that rang from the raftersSilently fell as they took up her pall. No lavishly gilt invitations,no clarion sounded the call. The headlines that graced the newspapersbore witness to no one at all. Blind to the bonds of humanity; dignity, pride, and such Read more

  • To Know a Friend

    Most won’t be there through thick and thin, but pretend to be as close as kin. Like vines that cling to mighty trees, they slowly twist and bind with ease. Sinuously serpentine, weaving through and in between, caressing branches while choking leaves, corrupting shapes and bending beams, leaving a twisted mockery of the beauty there Read more

  • Cross-Country

    I’d walk along this path at work during lunchtime, a trail set aside for the students to run cross-country track.  Each day emerging from my hermetically sealed cocoon, shedding the artifice of the locked-down environment. The breezeless corridors, a bland interior, the color of composition paper;a dingy white with several hints of blue and one Read more

  • Concrete Nails and Pine

    Separated from our natural state, we’ve made our homes a box.Three-story mortgaged coffins with all the doors and windows locked. Mow down that lawn and gather up those lost upsetting leaves and burn them in a fire pit to keep our homestead clean. Polish up those floors and paint all the walls bright white, with Read more

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  • Medusa

    I exhale in terror. Or is it simply exhaustion? I huff and wheeze a thin cloud of fog to rub awayyet another smudge on Athena’s prized shield.I feel anything, but heroic, hypnotized by the glare. Breathtakingly beautiful. A pun, as if anyone had time for stale humor. I choke on my own dry throat as Read more

  • All That We Will Leave

    Be mindful of the things you do, be careful what you say.Life is meant to be enjoyed and age the price we pay. Imagine it all ended; in fact one day it will.Would the things that keep you up at night even matter still? The fire of time is greedy, consuming all it sees… It Read more

  • Democracy Died with a Yawn

    It wasn’t a roar or explosion,no cheering or fanfare at all The dirge that rang from the raftersSilently fell as they took up her pall. No lavishly gilt invitations,no clarion sounded the call. The headlines that graced the newspapersbore witness to no one at all. Blind to the bonds of humanity; dignity, pride, and such Read more

  • To Know a Friend

    Most won’t be there through thick and thin, but pretend to be as close as kin. Like vines that cling to mighty trees, they slowly twist and bind with ease. Sinuously serpentine, weaving through and in between, caressing branches while choking leaves, corrupting shapes and bending beams, leaving a twisted mockery of the beauty there Read more

  • Cross-Country

    I’d walk along this path at work during lunchtime, a trail set aside for the students to run cross-country track.  Each day emerging from my hermetically sealed cocoon, shedding the artifice of the locked-down environment. The breezeless corridors, a bland interior, the color of composition paper;a dingy white with several hints of blue and one Read more

  • Concrete Nails and Pine

    Separated from our natural state, we’ve made our homes a box.Three-story mortgaged coffins with all the doors and windows locked. Mow down that lawn and gather up those lost upsetting leaves and burn them in a fire pit to keep our homestead clean. Polish up those floors and paint all the walls bright white, with Read more