Sometimes the summer sky was a wide sea
deep
with clouds to comfort and clouds to startle and clouds to bring calm.
And sometimes the clouds were as dark as the night that was to
come but the wind scudded them away and left me so very,
so very – I don’t know –
joyful,
or safe.
Safe.
Those were the good summer days when I had left my old folks smiling and happy …
Poem, in its entirety, is available in the printed version of the current issue.
Bio:
Linda E. Clarke is an author and performance storyteller. Her fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction have appeared in numerous periodicals. Her memoir This Will Happen to You (HARP Publishing, 2022) features photos by James J. Sullivan. In 2022 and 2023 she collaborated with Passionate Heart Dance on performances of original stories braided with dance. With Michael D. Cusimano, her neurosurgeon, she produced a co-memoir, In Two Voices: A Patient and a Neurosurgeon Tell Their Story (Pottersfield Press, 2019).
James J. Sullivan is a Guelph-based photographer. For nearly 50 years he has used his camera to capture his unique view of the world. “The Road” is his second creative collaboration with his spouse Linda.