Written for Reena’s Xploration Challenge.
Reena asks us to write a story or poem
using this line as our opener or closer:
“The chapter will close with applause,
regret, and unanswered questions,
exactly as it should be.”
The yard signs lean now. Half are already pulled; the rest are left to the rain. For months the porches debated each other in bold lettering, and the mail carrier delivered both arguments in the same bag, door to door, without comment. Somewhere a volunteer is stacking folding chairs in a school gym that smells of floor wax and stale coffee. Somewhere else a poll worker who hasn’t slept is checking a seal against a log for the fourth time, because that is the job. Across town, people are embracing in a hotel ballroom under balloons that will be swept up by morning. In another room, someone at a podium thanks the volunteers in a voice that holds steady until the last sentence. Both believe they were speaking for the greater good. Both are partly right. In the morning the news anchors will hypothesize what it all meant, what went right and what went wrong. None of them will agree and next year they will explain it differently. The neighbor with the opposite sign will wave from the driveway, a little stiffly, and we will wave back, a little stiffly, and the leaves will keep falling on both lawns at the same rate. The chapter will close with applause, regret, and unanswered questions, exactly as it should close.
november morning
frost silvers each lawn the same ….
and the birds fly south
NAR©2026
This is “When The Music’s Over” by The Doors
Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated, and may not be used without permission. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.
