Back to Issue 2

Shadow Memories by Raud Kennedy

I drive around Southeast Portland
killing a warm afternoon
looking for the trigger to freedom.
When I lived in the Southeast
I felt it then. But now I carry with me
so many reasons not to do things
that my arms are tied to my sides
and I can't even open the door
of the box I've shut myself in.

Fading Dreams by Raud Kennedy

His fingertips slowly turn the bottle of beer
in its pool of condensation on the bar.
He should be home with Kylie and the kids
but he's poisoned with the routine of it all.
He sits in the bar waiting for that call
so he can fight with his wife.
Then when he goes home, chastised,
he won't feel so trapped, 27, a father
and not who he once dreamed of being.

Today by Raud Kennedy

There's more time
behind me than ahead.
I regret things I didn't do
more than bad things I did.
I've cheated myself of a life
not lived and I don't
want to feel this way
about today seven years
from now.

Bio:   Raud Kennedy is a dog trainer in Portland, Oregon.