Spring 2007 Issue

"I Found a Flashlight" by Ian O'Neill

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-I-|Found|/a\(F l a s h l i g h t)

** **~* ~~~ **~ ~* ~** *~ **~* *~** *~ *** **** *~** ** ~~* **** ~

The winds converged seven miles off shore

The larger came from the Ivory Coast

Harrowing routes once bloodied by

Slave traders. The second emerged

From the Bermuda Triangle

Coursing in the wake of

Augusts calm closure

Sending a vanguard breeze

The caress along the drapes at sunset

Tonight we explored our grandparents’

Attic before breaking the small bay

Window that once caged us

From exploring the abandoned

Tower used centuries ago to

Watch for an ancestors sails.

Below the breakers burned

And rabidly spewed foam

As boys threw stones into

Wave’s gaping maws.

A curtain dropped

Clouding the horizon

Crimson. Buoyed cowbells

Bleating tankers, the jive

Of a fisherman’s sails

Whispers from shadows

Screamed to the shore with

Ivory fury and Bermudan assurance.

The symphony of the squall

Was applauded by the awnings and

Reminded the albatross to migrate south.

Then the chapel bells began to toll.

A light flickered within

The Lighthouse; it was dormant,

Boarded, and bolted.

Operator or intruder?

Spark the generator!

The wind was a mist by the

Time we found a flashlight to

Sear through cobweb panes and

Elucidate the beacon’ss aphotic core.

* ~** *~* ~* ~~ ~* ~ **** * *~** ** ~*~ **** ~ **** ~*** *~* ~~~ 1

I said, flashing ellipses until

The beam inside the tower

Spasmodically oscillated

And disappeared.

*~ *~* * ~*~~ ~~~ **~ *~* * ~** *~ *~* ~** * ~** 2

Said patchy clicks

It claimed,

~~~ ~** ***~ ** **~ *** *~** ~*~~ ~*~~ ~~~ **~ ~** **~ ~~ ~ ~* ~~~ *~~ *

~~ ~~~ *~* *** * ~*~* ~~~ ~~~ ~** 3

A rogue wave broke on the

Lighthouse base, scattering

Gulls, scavenging their catch

~~* **~ ~** * ~~~ ~** ***~ ** ~~~ **~ *** *~** ~*~~ ~*~~ ~~~**~ ~*~* *~ ~* ~ 4

*** *~~* * *~** *~**, I responded

~~~ ~*~~ * *~ *~~ ** *** * *~ *** ***, 5

Spat the paroxysmal cupola,

Accentuating every dot twice

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~* ~~~ ~ ** **~* ~*~* ~~~ **~ ~*~* *~ ~* ~ * *** ~*~* *~ *~~* *

~*~* ~~~ **~ *~* *** **** ** ~ ~*~* *~** ** ~~* **** ~ **** ~~~ **~ *** * 7

I fired back as clouds

Distended overhead, veins kinetic

Pulsating, primed, potentially the

Payload of the Trinity Test.

Beneath the voltaic babel of

Cobwebbed fusillades, the sea

Turned gray and anarchistic.

The waves grew rowdy and bull

Rushed the Lighthouse, rattling

Beams and pocketing bricks

~*~~ ~~~ ~~* **~ ~*~~ ~*~~ ~~~*** * ~ ~ * *~* *~** * *~ *~* ~* ~ ~~~ *** *~~ ** ~~8, I said as

A ball of lightning crowned the tower

Like a radiant cantaloupe or

** ~ *** *~** ** ~*~* *~ **** *~ *~** ~~~ ~~ *~ ~** * **~* *~* ~~~ ~~ ~* *~ *~~* *~ *~** ~~9, I flashed as

Carbonated elementals created

Volatile dreamcatchers within the

Clouds like safety nets for fallingstars.

Like livewires protected

By rubber casings which

Hang on a final twine

The Lighthouse began responding

And the twine broke and the sky

Fell with Jovian

Ferocity upon the breakers

*~** ** **** ~ ~* **…10 sputtered the

Lighthouse before growing dark

~*…~~*…11 it continued in

Pained punctuation, **…12

It drawled, accentuating each

Dot as though short of breath

**…

**…

…~*** *~** ** ~* ~** 13

1 “Edrn mn the likhth bro”; i.e. “Turn on the lights bro”

2 Are you redarded; i.e. Are you retarded

3 Obviusly you dunt nowe Morse Cood; i.e. Obviously you don’t know Morse Code

4 Dude, obviously you can’t spell

5 O yea wiseass

6 I charv your tumstone; i.e. I will carve your tombstone

7 Not if you can’t escape your shitty lighthouse

8 Yo guy, you better learn to swim

9 Its like a halo made from napalm

10 Lihtni…; i.e. lightni…

11 …n; …g

12 I…

13 Blind