EILEEN SEILER is a professional writer and editor, based in Hatboro, PA. Her company fraze, LLC, provides strategic and creative writing services for businesses. She also blogs for a local organic food market and pursues creative writing in many other forms. Eileen has published a poem and a short story in Goldfinch, the annual publication of Women Who Write.
Suspect
Menacing glare
Meets vacant stare
“Spill it…share. Was she there?”
Body slight? Purple hair?
Recent tattoo on her thigh?
Two black hearts and one evil eye?
“Did she do it? Light the flame?
We heard that you may know her name?”
Two cloudy eyes
Can’t conceal the lies
Collapse.
Regain composure.
Start again.
—
Self-less Portrait
I paint naively, at first.
No outline. No brink.
No lines to not cross.
I paint devotedly, after a while,
accepting other truths
onto the tip of my brush.
Next, I paint furiously,
with embellishment,
to make these truths into a life.
I paint desperately, now,
to impose my outline
over the layers of distortion.
For only one look at my painting
and I knew that I am what is missing.
—
Gratitude
How much does a book weigh?
In pounds or grams, a small amount
In thoughts and ideas, a ton…or more!
In artistry and imagery…a substantial payload
In power and sway…who can begin to say?
Yet the bookshelf shows no strain or stress
Fortified by gratitude for each bold work in its care.
Standing upright; big to small
It bears it all.