Featured Writer: Christian Ward Day 2

The Source


Now that grandfather’s tumors have started

collapsing the timbers of his organs, his body

has started to stink. Nurses hold their breaths


when changing his sheets, giving him food

and water. The daffodils in the vase by his

windows have turned away, shut their petals.


I ignore them when sitting down by his side

to read him the newspaper, tell him of daily

happenings. When it increases in intensity,


I smile and remember reading how the ark,

filled with putrid smells from 151 days

of travelling, beached itself on the summit


of a mountain and all known life crept out

from that foul smelling source.