Golconda, by Peter Cherches

Golconda, by Rene Magritte (Belgium) 1953

Golconda

​Here it never rains cats and dogs. It is we who rain; we who never knew enough to come in out of the rain have ourselves become the rain. A blessing or a curse, we can’t agree. Dutour says blessing, because we sustain life. Beaulieu claims we have usurped the prerogative of the clouds, so it must be a curse, and he prays for all our souls. Each has his constituency in the storm, but I rain alone. I don’t make black and white, either/or evaluations, pronouncements. For I know, just as sure as my name is Magritte, that this storm shall pass.

Peter Cherches

Called “one of the innovators of the short short story” by Publishers Weekly, Peter Cherches has published seven short fiction collections since 1986. His writing has also appeared in scores of magazines, anthologies and websites, including  Harper’s, Bomb, North American Review, Semiotext(e), and Fiction International, as well as Billy Collins’ Poetry 180. His latest book is, Things (Bamboo Dart Press, 2023), a collection of experimental short prose and poetry. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he is also a jazz singer and lyricist.