Empty by Cindy Rinne

In darkness I walk past barricades and observe the eye of Shiva carved at the crest of a building. My destination. Lights glow through closed windows like beacons. Push open the heavy door. Muffled voices blend from a distant classroom. I am ten minutes early. The couple drives 500 miles from Bishop to purchase cheese puffs shaped like balls. Not the orange kind that stain your fingers and tongue. These are white cheddar. None in the store. The auditorium has light fixtures of a long stem with an inverted glass dome, wooden seats, and two long tables flank a screen in front. Also, a map of Spain written in Spanish hangs to the right of the screen. The room is empty. My friend’s daughter has a C-section. The baby, no sex or name mentioned, keeps them up all night. I find a novel with the study of plants as its theme and wonder why I need to read this. No author reading here. The event has been moved up two hours.

Cindy Rinne creates art and writes in San Bernardino, CA. She brings myth to life in contemporary context. Cindy is the author of Quiet Lantern (Turning Point), spider with wings (Jamii Publishing), Breathe in Daisy, Breathe out Stones is forthcoming (FutureCycle Press), and she co-authored Speaking Through Sediment with Michael Cooper (ELJ Publications). She is a translator. Cindy is a founding member of PoetrIE, an Inland Empire based literary community. Her poetry appeared or is forthcoming in Blue Heron Review, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, Driftwood Press, The Honest Ulsterman (Ireland), The Whirlwind Review, Birds Piled Loosely, and others. www.fiberverse.com