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A child's spirit loosed like an arrow into the world. I left behind the old country, all that I loved, all that I knew. The arrow flew into the sun. Direction is easy when you're aimed by other hands, confident and direct and true. There is nowhere else to go, except the road that is open. Aimed straight at a star; my shadow lay sleek along me, within me — it was only when the arrow faltered and started down, uncertain of where it would touch the patient Earth that shadow broke loose and started growing stronger, deeper, casting darkness on the ground. It was only when gravity took me back And I turned away at last from looking into the light that I finally knew how far I had come and what a dangerous, irretrievable choice had been made in my name, taking flight. [Ed. Note: Second part of a 10-part poem to be published in its entirety over the next few renditions. « Previous | Next »] · · · · · ·
Alma Hromic, the author with R. A. Deckert of Letters from the Fire, was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. However she has lived outside her native country for much of her life: Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa, the UK and New Zealand. Trained as a microbiologist, she spent some years running a scientific journal, and later worked as an editor for an international educational publisher. Her own publishing record includes her autobiography, Houses in Africa, The Dolphin's Daughter and Other Stories, a bestselling book of three fables published by Longman UK in 1995, as well as numerous pieces of short fiction and non-fiction. Her last novel, the first volume of a fantasy series, Changer of Days: The Oracle, was published in September 2001 by Harper Collins. Last January, Hromic won the much coveted BBC online short story competition. Her story, The Painting, was broadcast in the UK in the last week of January 2001. Do you wish to share your opinion? We invite your comments. E-mail the Editor. Please include your full name, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Please, feel free to insert a link to this article on your Web site or to disseminate its URL on your favorite lists, quoting the first paragraph or providing a summary. However, please DO NOT steal, scavenge or repost this work without the expressed written authorization of Swans, which will seek permission from the author. This material is copyrighted, © Alma A. Hromic 2002. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. |
This Week's Internal Links
The United States v. Democracy - by Stephen Gowans
The Wrong Stuff - by Deck Deckert
The Hand Of God - by Alma Hromic
Of Rice And Men: The Mistaken Promise Of Genomics - by Jan Baughman
Self Interest - by Milo Clark
Israel - by Milo Clark
Massacre Or Not? It Depends On Which Side Of Washington's Ledger You're On - by Stephen Gowans
Blackmailing Palestinians: Plucked, Cooked, Baked And Packaged - by Gilles d'Aymery
Going Home: i - Looking Back - Poem by Alma Hromic
Dollars for Terror - Book Review by Milo Clark
Blighted National Priorities - Book Review by Milo Clark
Alma Hromic on Swans
Essays published in 2002 | 2001
On the Anniversary (September 2000)
Subject: Into Myth (September 2000)
Sadness in Novi Sad, Serbia (April 2000)