Charles Tarlton
Simpler than Truth
Effects were everywhere; no causes to be seen. The agent left tell-tale consequences, outcomes without causes, the faint un-scent of anonymous air in an empty room, an echo and nothing more. He moves unseen, a no-name, nothing, a nobody. He has no dimensions, no color, no size, no weight. He is like the idea of someone pretty, like the thought of a circle, or the wind we know by the flapping of the flag or laundry on the line. He could be variously called Euclid, Heisenberg, Plato, or some god of a thousand arms. These are ideas coming out of nowhere. Questions in themselves, questioning themselves.
everything is inside your head
that’s just where the outside comes in
when the voices you hear translated into shock
waves bouncing off your ear drums…
are you taking any of this seriously?
About the writer:
For the last decade Charles Tarlton has been writing and publishing poetry, haibun, and flash fiction. His work has appeared in Haibun Today, Contemporary Haibun Online, Rattle, Ekphrastic Review, KYSO Flash, London Grip (UK), Ilanot Review (Israel), Flash Fiction Magazine, Gambling the Aisle and many others. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with his wife Ann Knickerbocker, an abstract painter.
Image: Count Willem III Presides over the Execution of the Dishonest Bailiff in 1336 by Nicolaes von Galen (1620-1683). Oil on canvas. 75.5 x 83.8 inches. 1657. Public domain.
