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CIA M

Let’s turn our attention to the Exhilarating Spark

ILLUSTRATION BY MARTA HERRERA

Let’s turn our attention to the Exhilarating Spark,

common or garden variety.

One can find an example of these

creatures almost anywhere one wishes to look.

 

i)       Two pairs of eyes. Across a room, a conversation – in a bar,

perhaps. Too intense, too brief.

Two gazes on the verge of combustion.

Feeling like a pair of raindrops slipping down a window,

on the verge of converging for a second or two.

 

ii) Opening a text; long-awaited good news

 (half-expected). An unrushed grin to oneself

 if alone, a snatched half-smile if not. Either way,

 soft second-long explosions in the chest,

 between heart and stomach.

 

But you see, I prefer hunting out the rarer ones. The smaller,

more fragile ones that others don’t notice.

 

iii) Reckless. Too old for the playground, but

 still swaying to and fro. Head back, feet out.

 Eyes shut for a fraction of a second –

 the influx of air suggesting something

 dangerous, sharp, white-hot in its hazardousness.

 

d) One of the more bashful members in a seemingly

staged conversation. Social insecurity temporarily clouded over

by minute success; a joke, perhaps. A valuable contribution.

Something minor that makes them feel like the happiest

human being in the world for a half a moment or so.

 

e) Here’s another sort of stage. A proper one.

 With curtains, and an audience in seats.

 

 Within an abundance of times and places, the Spark

enjoys making appearances: the last syllable

 of a monologue, the pinnacle of the lead’s presence,

 

 the involuntary jerk that appears when

 the lights turn on and the sound kicks in.

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PT. 3:

INTENSITY/ BRIGHTNESS