After a Seven-Year-Old War

by Lazarus Trubman

Honorable Mention – Flash 405, February 2020: “Bright Spot”
Poetry


 

In the street in front of a hotel two children are playing; a boy of five,
rachitic, and a girl with a toy pistol; they are playing on a serious note,
and the little boy, rather petulant and unwilling, is told to stand up against
the piss-stained wall; he can’t understand that he is then supposed to fall
down; the girl shows him how—with all the experience of her seven years…

 

 


Judge’s Comments:
Set in a post-war era, a young girl shows an even younger boy how to playact an execution. The contrast between the grungy, unhealthy backdrop and the joviality of any game played by children is particularly striking in this piece. I enjoyed not only the amount of story but the amount of backstory that the poet was able to create in five lines.

As a college professor, Lazarus Trubman taught the Theory of Literature and Roman languages for twenty-four years. In 2017, he retired to devote his time to writing. Since then, his poetry and prose had been published by The Threepenny Review, Lit Mag, Vestal Review, The Sea Letter, New Reader, Black Mountain Press, and others.

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