By Bruno Talerico
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Do my words disturb you?Good!Do my words comfort you?Great!Have my words left you apathetic or neutral?Then I’ll have to try harder.© 2025 Bruno TalericoStafford challenge 313/365.Inspired by Dr. Cesar A. Cruz.
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I wake surroundedby barking, drooling beasts.Much like me, but not me.I’ve been trying to make senseof the disrupted dream I call my life.I wonder where my soul has gone.Has my resolve taken flight?How do I keep the wolves of madness away?I try to engage with them.Snarling, they display yellowed fangs.Run, and you die.Placing palms on…
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Dense whiteness of the snow, opaque and insulating,filling the gap between earth and tarp,blocking frigid air,protecting. Muffling. Panic!Will I be buried alivein my warm cocoon,undiscovered until the spring thaw,rats and ravensdrawn by the stench of my decay?In the thready pulse of night,I wake. Fearing suffocation,I uncover my head and shoulders,frantically stabbing my hickory walking stickthrough…
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How do you feel when your son or daughter lies to you?Angry? Sad? Disappointed?Where do they learn to lie?Is it from their peers, teachers, clergy, the news,or you?Have you told your children not to lie,then repeatedly lied to them?Have you taught your childrenthat the world took six days to create?(And when they questioned)Explain that days…
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These tears are free.Faces in the atmosphere smile and frown,never judgmental, even when I’m troubled.Here I am, cardigan draped over shoulders, woolen arms wrapped around me,warming my heart.There’s pressure to write on this mournful day,words straining,so hard to rhyme.The conversation with the cloudsseems one-sided and yet I hearand somehow understand.Strange—one second ago this thought didn’t…
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Integrity is the quality of being honestand having strong moral principles.Most Republican voters claim their values include:One: Individual responsibility, Two: Limited government,and Three: Moral integrity.Yet they elected (twice)and many continue to supporta leader with the lowest moral standards.Perhaps their real values also include:Four: Militant Ignorance,Five: Complicity,and Six: Self-Deception.Regardless of political orientation,at times, we all are…
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No honor is lostin accepting defeat. What kind of person endures such misery,then plans to return a few days later? Everyone has something that grounds them: a rocker on the front porch,a window overlooking the garden,a shelf of Kerouac and Hemingway. His solace is the inner gorge. Breaking camp before dawn,he trots to the trailhead.…
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In the scented kingdom,as they push through the snow,first time feeling the sun’s warmth, spring plants must rejoice.Soft, moist, malleable clay feels goodin the potter’s hands.Do the potter’s hands feel as goodto the clay?Peering through Venetian blindscovertly observing the drafting table,a good secret agent would findan Exacto-knife to be just as effectiveas a credit cardwhen…
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Reading dogeared trail guides,examining coffee-stained maps,mentally tracing the paths.You imagine vistas—the weariness, the blisters.You calculate:liters of water, calories of food,miles per hour adjusted for terrain,the weight of each boot.You wind duct tape onto a pencil stub,cut handles off toothbrush and trowel,paring every millimeter and ouncetrimming the backpack’s burden.You listen to stories of adventuresand challenges by…
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Even now, miles and years away from her,I hear her siren song.It was early July and I had just completeda 47-day bicycle ride from Seattle to Atlantic City.My fiancé welcomed me warmlyat the airport in Phoenix.I had already signed a contractfor a third season at the North Rim Clinicwhen she announced her decision.She wouldn’t drive…
Desert Dweller 