A Study of Fixity, by John Riley

Vintage photograph. Details not known.

A Study of Fixity
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Of all the things that can be attested to, and there are several, be it the accumulation of grey or the magnificence of points, not points of contention but of connection, the angles of heads and the tenderness of limbs, I find the most solvent to be the feathering of shadows, a flowering of the beginning of night, applied like a stain upon each life. All else to make of this is human contrivance, be it buckled shoe, banded rooster, savagery of smoke, or lure of curls, which leaves only light pouring toward us like the first glimpse of tomorrow.

John Riley

John Riley has published poetry and fiction in Smokelong Quarterly, Better Than Starbucks, Ekphrastic Review, Banyan Review, Connotation Press, Fiction Daily, The Molotov Cocktail, Dead Mule, St. Anne's Review, and numerous other anthologies and journals both online and in print. He has also published over thirty books of nonfiction for young readers and continues his work in educational publishing.