Tag: conflict

Narrow escape… or is it?

The director-playwright lay under the raised curtain, surveying it to make sure it wasn’t creased. The manager had done that the night before. And again in the morning. But it didn’t hurt to check again.

Actors rushed around, muttering dialogues, rehearsing, buckling belts, fixing wigs. His eyes crinkled as he smiled to himself, proud.

Suddenly, he froze. His eyes widened as the curtain rod came hurtling towards his head.

He could only stare.

An inch away, it stopped. “You should be more careful, you know” came an unfamiliar voice from backstage. The one who’d become his wife.

He let his breath out.

I wrote this little story in July 2014. I found it in my drafts while cleaning out my blog, and I figured it was worth a polish and publish.

Cheers

Photo of a scene from the 2004 movie, Layer cake. In the scene, Daniel Craig, as XXXX, and his friend sit drinking whisky and XXXX says, “And you find peace with guns?” as seen on the subtitles.

It’s under control;
the stories we tell others
help us sleep at night.

Corporate ladder

Photo of a sky jumper halfway down on a jump from the top of the Sky Tower in Auckland, as seen from inside the building with the Auckland skyline in the background.

We think we are brave
craving to climb to the top—
too scared to jump down.

Battle of the skies

Photo of a row of airplanes on the tarmac, as seen through the window of another plane.

Little planes prepare
to face up to Ouranos;
airborne infantry.

Ready

Photo of a Qantas plane stationary on the tarmac.

Decked up and ready,
primed to take the storms head on—
pilot grabs the mic.