Issue Eighty-Seven

1. “Man on the Bridge,” by Beth Nelson plays with space and time continuums brought about, then suspended, then destroyed by the floodwaters that recently wreaked havoc on several communities in Colorado. Rather than exploit an overdone aerial view, she chooses a close-in proximity, a bridge, with the focussed observing eye of a painter to capture the collisions of the natural world and its beauty and power and the foolishness and desperation of some of its victims. Just like the many layers of watercolor being applied to the painting, the story weaves in risk and struggle and defeat, how we learn to let go to survive.

2. “Man on the Bridge” is an insightful use of natural disaster coupled with human drama weaving metaphors of change, challenge, and reality by using water as the binding agent. Clear, personal, and very powerful.

Comments are closed.