Assistant Editor Blessing J. Christopher:

Separated by walls and doors, the narrator is still able to supply his mind with visual images of the immigrant boy. ‘He carries the trumpet around his neck with a thick knot of red yarn. His hair is in a bowl cut.’ ‘Playing Taps’ is a cascade of sensory responses to external stimuli.

Listen to C.W. Bryan read “Playing Taps”:

Playing Taps

The young immigrant kid in the next apartment is playing taps on his toy trumpet. It is quite muted behind the walls and doors and culture between us. Still, I am imbued with a form of patriotism that boils my blood. He carries the trumpet around his neck with a thick knot of red yarn. His hair is in a bowl cut. I decide to fry two eggs in olive oil. I put cheese on them and a little bit of ketchup. They are the most perfect eggs I have ever made in my entire life. Behind my living-room wall, I stand at attention, straighten my spine, and salute. 

C.W. Bryan is the author of two collections of poetry. His debut chapbook Celine: An Elegy was published with Bottlecap Press in 2023. His first full-length collection, No Bird Lives in my Heart is forthcoming with In Case of Emergency Press in 2024. He is currently writing with Sam Kilkenny at poetryispretentious.com.