*

Ryan Stovall is a former adventurer, world traveler, and Green Beret who earned his MFA from Fairfield University in 2021. Black Snowflakes Smothering A Torch is his first book.

Ryan Stovall

Zen? (a koan)

if a coffee cup

             an oversized metal travel mug

is dropped

             bounces between several pairs of sturdy boots

and slides

             out the open door of an American helicopter

hovering above

             the dusty streets of Quetta

spewing droplets

             a chrome meteor

spinning down

             shining through the sunlight

filling cool

             desert morning air

gathering a

             thousand feet of speed before

striking a

             child on a bicycle

splitting her

             head like a dark haired pumpkin

whacked by

              an axe

does it make a sound

             in America?

— Ryan Stovall

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