‘I Found A Dollar In A Pine Tree’, ‘The Appraisal’ & ‘There’s Nothing Like Your First Heartbreak’

Ronald Theel is a freelance writer, photographer, and mixed media artist living in Syracuse, NY. His work has appeared in "Beyond Words Literary Magazine," "Mayday Magazine," "Pithead Chapel," and other places.

I Found A Dollar In A Pine Tree

in my backyard, gored on a branch.
At first I thought it was a butterfly
green and preening in the drenched sunlight.
A stormy wind blew it, I figured,
then, like a shrike, impaled it to kill it.
Like a vulture, I dragged my ladder to the tree
leaving two muddy scars along the grass.
I pulled myself up higher and higher
leaving balance on the ground until I fell.
I tumbled into the tree, shattering the dead
branches, knocking down the nest of a robin,
and landing in the verdant dark. the dollar
caught again by the wind, pulled free and flew
over the fence, into my neighbor’s yard.

The Appraisal

She turns me over in her hands. Over
then over again, less sight than touch,
each delicate finger an instrument
like an antennae, sensing the hidden
things. Hmm, she moans as she feels the way I’m
insecure of my voice. That’s interesting
slips from betwixt her lips when she feels my
shame at not supporting my brother when
he needed to get sober. I wonder, she says as I try to hide, like a child
standing in front of a broken lamp, my
attraction to her. Gently, so to not
break the still-whole parts of me, she sets me
back on the shelf, where I sit. Still.

There’s Nothing Like Your First Heartbreak

She cries like hornet stings, red
wet history on her cheeks
and the past washed away, the way
a careless spill pulls ink from
a page. A kiss only consoles
in completeness. The halves
and parts that built you like a tower,
screaming to the clouds,
tore you from the sky. Affection
is its own infection, love its own
vaccine. She built, brick by brick,
a tolerance to You. But You
locked yourself in a tomb, elated
to have buried part of her with You.

Carl Vaughan is a University of Nebraska - Omaha Creative Writing graduate and former Creative Nonfiction editor for UNO's 13th Floor Literary Magazine. Carl works as a freelance book editor and has been published in "Rigorous Magazine" and UNO's "The Gateway" magazine. He is a gamer, movie buff, and foodie. When he is not working or writing, you can find him jamming to good music.