Andrew+Vo

 Ceaseless Rain

 The unceasing rain spattered heavily upon the floor, splashing its acidic components mere inches from the bed that I was sitting on. The rain had been like this ever since the outcome of the last war that decimated the majority of the world’s population. The annihilation of Man across the world ensued that the rain would continue to thrive as a result of Man’s technological artifices and the curse of knowledge. It started with the nuclear weapons, and it ended with the rain. I often pondered which one was worst: the nukes or the rain. Both have been a result of Man’s inscrutable relationship with one another and lack of tolerance. In any case, the nukes had done their thing, and the rain would ensure that the results would stay that way. As a child, I had lived to see the bombs fall upon Man’s great societies, and as an adult I now live to see the rain fall upon what is left. I felt a raindrop upon my hand.

The rain was chewing through the city like meat on a bone, and it did so much quicker with each passing day. Skyscrapers that once stood proudly above began to hunch decrepitly and the skin of these towers quickly dissolved within a short amount of time, revealing the steel mesh-work skeleton underneath. Below, black rust and toxins ensconced themselves upon the faces of small shops that huddled together in the shadows of the decrepit giants. The city itself seemed to be consumed by the rust and black toxins which spread to more reaches within the city every hour. The black filth plagued the streets, claiming all manner of material and artifice too foolish or helpless to seek shelter. In doing so, the streets were wiped clean, devoid of all evidence of anything having ever existed there. And here I was, seated in the bed of my house watching this spectacle unfold before me. Another raindrop spattered upon my hand.

Like this city, I was a husk of my former self. The effects of the rain had warped me from the humanoid figure that I once resembled. The skin and muscle that were once called my arms and legs had shriveled and blackened, constricting around the form of my bones like a charcoal skeleton. I wore a leather poncho over my torso, hiding what was left of my internal organs. I dare not look nor describe what remained of me underneath my poncho. Upon my face, I wore a leather wrap with a single glass oculus the size of a fist from which I may peer out of. My fingers, which were also shriveled and blackened, looked like long ashen twigs. My back began to hunch, reducing my stature from the healthy and strong figure that I was once called to that of a withered scarecrow. How I had lived through this state is both miraculous and unfortunate, even by nature’s standards. Raindrops began to slide between the crevices of my fingers.

However, I was not alone in this ordeal. My only daughter, who had not reached the age of maturity yet, had accompanied me through these harsh environments. She too was in a unique state of her own as a result of the rain effects. A few weeks prior, I had taken it upon myself to hack off her limbs, leaving almost nothing left to call an appendage. The rain had affected her to the point in which her limbs had begun to decay and fester. She was the only light in my already dismal life, bringing me the joys of a father to one who could hardly be recognized as one. Now, she lies next to me in the bed, wrapped in bandages and sleeping like a log. Surprisingly, my daughter was unfazed with the state in which I had been reduced to because of the effects of the rain. Be it the natural instincts of a child or some illusionary force, she still saw me as her fatherly figure. Like me, she watched the rain as it came down around us. A raindrop kissed her face.

It had been several months since we became caged in the ruins of our house, unable to depart because of the acidic shroud that shot down like bars. For this reason, we sought to entertain ourselves daily with the novelties and pleasures one typically does on a rainy day. Most of the time, the two of us rummaged through old knick-knacks and what not in an attempt to relive the memories of the past; a past that included our mother. Ah, I still vividly remember the figure we called Mother. In contrast to the morbid atmosphere of the rain, she was bright and lively, reflecting the sun’s gaze off from her own brilliant figure. We had married at a young age, lived the life of a loving couple, and garnered enough money and prestige to call ourselves people of middle class. Before the rain had reached our city, she left the house to pick out a gift for our daughter. Four years have gone by since then and we still have yet to see Mother or the present. Droplets began to trickle out of the ceiling.  Caring for my daughter has comprised the other half of my schedule. With her appendages gone, I had taken it upon myself to ensure that her health is maintained and that the rest of her body doesn’t atrophy. Every hour, I make sure to perform light calisthenics with her to exercise the muscles and pump the blood. In her case, I make sure to massage her muscles and help her to stretch the muscles in her back and neck to keep them functioning and strong, to an extent. Also, her mental health is another important aspect that I take care of along with her physical health. Stories, brain teasers, and academics are daily exercises that we both utilize to help our thinking processes. I help her to read books that we have still lying about inside the remnants of our house and engage her in deep thinking. Even amidst desolation, I feel that it is necessary to cling onto our old knowledge and traditions. The most taxing of the things that I do is preventing her from sinking into despair; as a father, it is all that I can do to protect my family. If not for the mask I wore, I fear that my daughter would be able to see the pained look upon my face as I struggle to keep my own spirits up for her sake. More droplets began to rip through the ceiling.

I peered around the room, or what was left of it. Where there were once four walls there are now four crumbling holes. Where there as a ceiling once pristine there is now a net of fissures stretched like a hide. Where there was once a smooth carpet there is now a marsh that has consumed the floor. Only the bed provided any source of sanctuary, and even that was beginning to erode from the legs up. At the edge of the bed lie canisters of eaten preserves as well as the last of our nourishment. Beside me, my daughter slept peacefully, smiling as though she were visiting mother in a dream. I caressed her bandaged head, arousing her back into the world of rain. I met her gaze and after a moment I asked, “What should we do today?”

My daughter uttered a single word from her mouth. “Mother.”

“Alright, let’s go on a trip then. Perhaps we’ll see Mother there.”

I hoisted her up out of the bed and fastened her to my chest with her bandages like a papoose. Her gaze met my own in bewilderment and uncertainty, curious as to what I was planning to do. However, after meeting my gaze for only a moment, a smiled pursed her lips having understood my intentions and sank her head into my chest, falling back into the world of dreams. By now, the water that had been pervading the cracks in the ceiling was now hastening its invasion, causing me to leave the sanctity of the bed. Having fastened her torso to my own, I took one last look at our abode as if to confirm its existence. We disappeared into the rain.

Atop An Iris

A red iris upon which I stand As the last of the pollen kisses my nose And departs for horizons of windy flows Alone, it leaves me without sound. I came here sometime today. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I had a lamp. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I used it to comb thick maple strands. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I found myself upon this red iris. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I attempt speech with the flower seemingly suspended by air but, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I realized that it was not myself who spoke out. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I cringed to find that it was my tongue, not <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I, who communed with the withering flora. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I had wished to shed glistening tears, but glistening coins upon my <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Eye sung in their place. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Atop the red iris I gaze out <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Amongst the petals that have sailed from me to the earth, lie still <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Almost as if they were simply in deep slumber; <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Away I fly to join them.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Marketplace

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The epicenter is already crammed <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In time; but that which is only living <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Be feigned and doth well, but never true. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You are always beyond my own <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For a warm red rain soaks, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Calling wolves from the hills, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">From café to café. Children after a bag of pastries. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Always this; It just looks like play <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As monstrous alliances never dreamed of before <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Form in the rhythmic turn of earth. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Eventually, she’d answer me <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With this close up of her leaning forward, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Not to have seen it yet always known, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To suggest to the uncorrected <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I came like Water, and like Wind I go.”