Pale in Your Shadow

by Matthew Schultz

 

Fleetwood Mac, “Gold Dust Woman”

 

The honey-gold headlights of a pearl Corvette stretched a young woman’s shadow across the cracked hardpan and into the soft swell of the foothills. She belonged to the Cult of the Blue Oyster, and she had come to the California desert to perform a secret treaty. The woman dug three holes into the old sand with a silver spoon. The holes were identical. She filled each of them with the seeds of happiness and watered them with her tears. When she had given all that she had to give, three smooth puddles formed upon the surface that looked like painted glass. The young woman pulled a photograph from the back pocket of her black jeans. It was an impossibly old picture of an ancient queen who had chased her dreams too far from home. There was no going back.

 

 

 

Matthew Schultz is the author of two novels: On Coventry and We, The Wanted. His recent poems appear in Olney Magazine, Second Chance Lit, and Glitchwords. He has a poetry chapbook forthcoming from 2River Press this fall titled Parallax as well as a full-length collection (Icaros) and a chapbook (With Ghosts) forthcoming from ELJ Editions in May 2022.