Glassworks
  • home
  • about
    • history
    • masthead
    • staff bios
    • community outreach
    • affiliations
    • contact
  • current issue
    • read Issue 22
    • letter from the editor
    • looking glass spring 2021
    • interview with Jack Flo
    • interview with Christine Sloan Stoddard
  • submit
    • submission guidelines
  • looking glass
    • through the looking glass
  • editorial content
    • book reviews
    • opinion
    • interviews >
      • Ed Briant
      • Eugene Cross
      • Josh Denslow
      • Christopher DeWan
      • Katherine Flannery Dering >
        • Aftermath
      • Eric Dyer
      • Julie Enszer >
        • Avowed
      • Mitchell Fink
      • Jack Flo
      • Olivia Gatwood
      • David Gerrold
      • Cynthia Graham
      • Ernest Hilbert
      • Paul Lisicky >
        • The Roofers
      • Scott McCloud
      • Jan Millsapps
      • Anis Mojgani
      • Pedram Navab
      • Kelly Norris
      • Porsha Olayiwola
      • Michael Pagdon
      • Aimee Parkison >
        • The Petals of Your Eyes
      • Brad Parks
      • Chris Rakunas
      • Carlos Ramos
      • Mary Salvante
      • Jill Smolowe
      • Christine Sloan Stoddard >
        • Stoddard Poems
      • Jayne Thompson
      • Julie Marie Wade
      • Melissa Wiley
  • flash glass
    • flash glass 2021
    • flash glass 2020
    • flash glass 2019
    • flash glass 2018
    • flash glass 2017
    • flash glass 2016
    • flash glass 2015
  • media
    • art
    • photography
    • audio
    • video
    • new media
  • archive
    • read past issues
    • order print issues
  • Master of Arts in Writing program
    • about Writing Arts at Rowan University
    • application and requirements
  • newsletter

They Weren't Kicked Out by Claire Scott

11/1/2020

0 Comments

 
They couldn’t wait to get out of that garden, tedious days with no TV, no internet, only the drone of bees and a few stupid birds keeping them awake at night. Besides you can only fuck so much. They packed their sandals and fig leaves, grabbed a few apples and strolled past the gate, mumbling good riddance to the snoring God surrounded by empty bottles of ambrosia.
                    God needs people to think he kicked them out,
                    so he can hang onto his omnipotence and his
                    followers will continue to sing alleluias and put
                    cash in collection plates. But if you listen you can
                    hear God stomping about his garden in a total snit,
                    grumbling to the snake about the couple’s lack
                    ​of gratitude and how much he misses them.
Picture
​They bought a condo in the city, went to concerts and French restaurants, had close calls with cancer (him) and kidney disease (her). Death riding on their shoulders, whispering in their ears. They took their grandkids to Disney World, watched them ride roller coasters, hands held high and stuff clouds of cotton candy into eager mouths. Then they tucked them in at night, enjoying every precious moment, aware of the tapping on their shoulders and the soft urgency of life.

Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has appeared in the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam, and Healing Muse, among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Flash Glass: A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF FLASH FICTION, PROSE POETRY, & MICRO ESSAYS

      


    Categories

    All
    AJ Ferguson
    Andrew Jason Jacono
    Angie Kang
    Arya Francesca-Jenkins
    Bernard: 9/8/58
    Bobolink
    Christina Stump
    Christina Trujillo
    Claire Scott
    Crying Anya
    Daddy's Gift
    Flash Fiction
    Heart
    In The Garden
    Jason B. Crawford
    Juliann Shepherd
    Lauro Palomba
    Les Bares
    Lithopedion
    Micro Essay
    Miracles
    Multi-Tasking
    Natalie Coufal
    Northern Parula
    Prose Poetry
    Scott Ragland
    Sisyphus Needs A Caddy
    There's A Draft
    They Weren't Kicked Out
    Tin Dust
    Tomorrow
    Tonight
    Tree Swallow


    COVER IMAGE:
    ​"Ice Crystals" 
    Ana Prundaru
    ​ISSUE 10


    RSS Feed

Picture

260 Victoria Street • Glassboro, New Jersey 08028 
glassworksmagazine@rowan.edu

All Content on this Site
(C) 2021 glassworks