The Shroud of Joy
By: Robert Nersesian
To All Employees:
Have you ever kissed a sunset with a lemon drop in one hand and in your other the lead soldiers left behind in that last upheaval? The conflagration that had you dangling by a thread and ready to drop into a chile paste pit? Oh, you haven’t?
How about a kiss from the lips of the one who got away? Or a lingering glance that said it all to no one in particular except you? Questions. Questions.
And logistics? Did I mention logistics? Because to journey to happiness, you gotta get the pieces in place. Hired cars, terminals, rentals, rooms, reservations. Amateurs talk strategy. Real men talk logistics.
Let’s get serious. Look into my eyes. Svengali, I’m not. Just a tot who wants the warmth of a soup mug on a snowy day, and toes dandled by a care bear.
Tear off your provisional wigs. Fall to your fusty knees. Howl like a coyote on peyote.
Do it. Now. Chart it on your lazy ledgers. Now.
Signed,
Your Magus
Robert Nersesian attended the Yale Drama School and New York University School of Business. His essays have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post; short stories in Ararat Magazine, Bewildering Stories, and 101 Words; poetry that has been published or is slated to appear in Poetica Review, Eunoia Review, Valiant Scribe, OpenDoor Magazine, Ekstasis Magazine, Solid Food Journal, the Penn Journal of Arts & Sciences, and Haikuniverse; and drama in Review Americana. He lives in Washington, DC.
