Flying Island

Farewell Fanfare in B Minor by Tim Heerdink  All the horns blow simultaneously in tune for the ones being marched to a still moment. Let the singers serenade with their swan songs while the majority pray that wood can triumph over flame. The Sun shall rise on the very last day, waving its rays to welcome Earth and its terminal inhabitants. Hell, the birds may decide to whistle as well in rejoice. I’ve heard one network has an orchestral broadcast set to play Nearer, My God, to Thee when the sky begins to fall. It’s also been said that a band used the same hymn to calm the doomed who couldn’t escape the Titanic. Someone must have taken note and thought it not their time to depart. Surely, there’ll be others running from Death or glued to the silver screens as often is the case, watching overpaid suits quickly lose their thought process as pools of perspiration mixed with tears blind them from the present. There’s no hiding from the dark angel forever. Instead of joining i...

Listen to Your Loved Ones Crackle! by Tim Heerdink Oh, what a time we live and die ! Just last morn, a flash of an article brought strange news never to be forgotten as such other atrocities go in history. Don’t know what to do with your remains? No need to worry! Rest forever within the groovy space of vinyl. For the record, the sound quality may be horrific, but that’s all part of the fun. A teaspoon here, another touch there, and now you’re gold! What words or music could be important enough for my ashes to play? Generations to come will either store the disc in a basement or attic, where surely ruin shall follow, or give it a spin and complain that an mp3 simply would be much better. Tim Heerdink is the author of Red Flag and Other Poems (Bird Brain Publishing, 2018) and the short story “The Tithing of Man.” He also has poems published in Poetry Quarterly, the Fish Hook, Shared Words, Distinct Voices, The Eye of the Storyteller, and On Earth As It Is in Poetry.