Storm

By Helen Bartlett

Her voice was silk

The clouds grew black and sank to the earth

They were cold to the touch but you could never really grasp them

They were sharp in smell like cloves and they tasted similarly although with an edge of salt

There was no sound and the silence was deafening in such a way that she had to cover her ears and squeeze her eyes shut to try to block it out

The blackness of the clouds stifled the world around her

So that when she did

She wondered whether her eyes were still closed because everything around her was black

She suddenly remembered

Agatha!

Agatha she spoke it out loud the silk of her voice was blue and it filled the world of black around her

She had been wrong-- the clouds were not salty they were sweet Sweet like a Florida peach.

She loved Bardolatry Films

She knew that it was because of her love for these movies the little red flowers continued to grow outside her window.

There was something odd about them though, but she never questioned it until she remembered that

Agatha ate breakfast

Her eggs were sunnyside up and they made her smile like a young girl smiles at her mother’s wake

She finished her breakfast floating on her own happiness. She then floated to work. She didn’t want to get her new suede shoes dirty

She knew she would run into Helen on the way

Melancholy Helen

Melon Helen

She chuckled as she could imagine the encounter unfolding

Helen would most definitively say Hello

Agatha would force an orange smile

Agatha knew that her smile would show Helen that Agatha knew the effects of her smile and that agatha’s smile had that very effect on Helen herself

“L’APPEL DU VIDE”

The clouds called out to Agatha

“Don’t do what you are about to do”

And with that the rain fell

Wood Fired Teapot, 11x7x5