The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia Claire’s House of Fine-Tooth Combs, by Pat Foran

9/9/2022

0 Comments

 

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia Claire’s House of Fine-Tooth Combs


This story was inspired by Walking with the Dog, by Angelo Accardi (Italy) contemporary. Click here to view.
 

The night the lights went out — out as in OUT — in Georgia Claire’s House of Fine-Tooth Combs — out in her House, out on her life, out in her world, out on her combs — Georgia Claire went out looking for answers.

She found:
​
A masked man walking a Keith Haring dog schlepping a graffiti marker kit.

An ostrich talking “sultry dress trends” in a conversation pit.

A barrow of see-no-evil monkeys pitching pennies made of unleavened bread.

A narrow of nesting tables justifying all the shitty things they’d said.

A papier-mâché advance man returning to form.

A lemon-yellow bomb shelter slinking into a storm.

A town cryer wailing I can’t cry wolf anymore!
 
A cat in pigtails snarking THAT’S what you’re here for?
 
A movie flyer plastered on the face of a clock (“My Own Private Apocalypse! starring Phoenix Lazarus and His Party of Five”)

A Slim Pickens look-alike from “The Swarm” hustling back to the hive.

An exaltation of loopholes looking inward, ever inward. 

An exclamation of finger-pointers in a post-modern vineyard.

A technocracy of vacuum cleaners cutting corners, discretely.

A text-fiend incarnate laying blame and feasting.

A lover who said and who said and who said: Would you run? Would you run away? Would you run away with me?

A lover who said without saying, and without saying, said: I don’t see a graceful way out, and grace is important to me.
 
A banknote glider, a banner tied to its tail, squeaking: what it means to be something … or someone … or anything.
 
A fresco on a ceiling, scatting before shrieking: what it means to be nothing … and no one … not anything. Ever.
 
Georgia Claire found a little context, maybe. And a lot of colour. But no answers that night.

What happened to the light? she asked. What’s happened to my House? My life? My world?

The way you say it — “my world,” said a one-eyed lamb hawking half-full hopefulness. The world, like a word, has many different tones. See something one way, just as you might say a word a certain way, and it means one thing. See it, or say it another way, it means something else entirely.
 
Also, words and worlds get snuffed out, just like light, the one-eyed lamb said.
 
But it isn’t always about light, it isn’t always about the light, the lamb added.
 
What, pray, is it about? Georgia Claire asked.
 
Try reading the fine print between the lines with your fine-tooth combs, why don’t you, said the cat in pigtails, her eyes gleaming, her teeth flashing, her whiskers awash in the light of the syntactic night.
 
Pat Foran

Pat Foran knows very little about light, very little about anything. His stories have been published in various journals, and his work was selected for the Best Small Fictions 2021 and Best Microfiction 2021 anthologies. In June, he received the 2021 Mythic Picnic Prize in Fiction. Find him at neutralspaces.co/patforan/ and on Twitter at @pdforan.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead