highlighted – Page 45 – THE LIBRARY (EB)

Leonell EchaJanuary 30, 2019

Restrictions. For the first time since I could remember, I took note of all the signs on the walls: “Please keep noise to a minimum,” “Please respect your neighbor,” “Eating is prohibited,” and “please do not touch the wall.” Maybe I was bored but these signs were too many and got me mad like WTF? […]

Leonell EchaJanuary 28, 2019

Derailed dreams Drip! Drip! Drip! The tap trickled. And its sound echoed into the dead of the night. I laid motionless on my bed, unwilling to put an end to that miserable sound. Like a field blooming with regret. Tears welled up from my soul. This wasn’t how I imagined my life at 32, unmarried […]

Leonell EchaJanuary 26, 2019

God is master in playing hide and seek; but I have found the place where God is hiding, and it is not above the stars like the Sunday school teacher said, neither is it beneath the light-less darkness of ocean floors, nor the paradise we all read and dream about. And when I saw him, […]

Leonell EchaJanuary 24, 2019

From the time I was born, my mother said I was a bright sun. Father said I shine whenever darkness covered their roof, and for that cause he decided to own a gemstone. Later in life, that gemstone was a drop of joy to their river of sorrows. In all pain and terror, they all […]

Leonell EchaJanuary 23, 2019

The enemy of my friend should be my enemy right? This is how the phrase goes. We end up making an enemy of someone who doesn’t trouble our existence. Some forms of loyalty should have a question tag. Do not see your mouths through the back of your neck, what good is it to the […]

Leonell EchaJanuary 19, 2019

At one time, it was gentle scrubs, Hot water baths with palm kernel soap, Then came massage with kernel oil Accompanied by lullabies from heaven’s gate. Blissful moments found not with me Stories she told while I slept soundly Joy that filled her house, I can tell now Was way beyond stars and planets. Nursery […]

Leonell EchaJanuary 17, 2019

Before the sun sets in the evening Before the morning dew, I sit to wonder Why we have umbrellas and still get beat By rain that our brooms can not sweep. Why some have eyes that can not see With minds that refuse to think far Far enough to light the stars in the sky, […]

Leonell EchaJanuary 17, 2019

On sacred scrolls of secrecy, Sworn to self to hold silence dear, This alien language of peace and quiet Devours and stings my very own ear What is this silence you utter? Why do I hear your voice in every nothingness? Why dead responses to every question posed? Finding home in sabbatical calms. You engraved […]

Leonell EchaJanuary 16, 2019

My forefathers before my grandfather Had believed that the earth was flat. But the believe did not progress farther Than where my grandfather had sat. “Time will tell” my mother will always say, But all I’ve heard is a tick-tock. With the sun at night we live day by day, Minds awake before crowing cock(s). […]

Leonell EchaJanuary 15, 2019

Whenever you’re hanging out there Know that it is for you I care, With permutations of warning My heart is not for your warming. Dear Perpetual sister with gifts, I hope you read those signs outside before coming to prick my heart. I will not repeat my heartbeat. Just In case you meet that bridge […]

Abuse

Regret

I Found Where God Is Hiding

Count Your Blessings

The Hate You Give

Grandma’s perfume.

Questions I Never Asked

Hieroglyphic Silence

Shawl of Time

Street Signs

The Good Society

open more doors

in the ground

Seeds

A ditty

The Good Society

open more doors

in the ground