The Beauty Found In Sad Stories
Who is to say chaos isn’t part of it …always this hint
of asymmetry in an intricate plot. And who would
notice, if balance wasn’t already presumed, perfect?
Sullen fiction slows momentum, yet what seems to fall apart
could hold, as sane equilibrium furiously contends,
quarantines us behind a seamless gate, bars all but salutary
endings, any final act where the tale becomes our self.
When Gravity finally overwhelms …so unambiguous,
we fall for it, embrace it, love in that fragile solstice
whose equation cancels out all terms to zero.
Inside this haunted diminishment (this configuration
where the major third is lowered by only
a semitone),
the minor key transfigures any imperfection.
Richard Pflum has published two collections (A Dream of Salt
and A Strange Juxtaposition of Parts) and has recorded a CD (Strange
Requests). His poems have appeared in Conceit Magazine, Sparrow,
Event, Kayak, The Reaper, The Owe, Flying Island, The Hopewell Review, Ploplop,
The Indiana Experience and Bear Crossings. His most recent
chapbooks are The Haunted Refrigerator and Other Poems (Pudding House
Publications, 2007) and Listening With Others (The Muse Rules
Press, 2007).