Author: The Joseph Craven

I'm tall, but not so tall that people point and stare.
Lazy Post, Misplaced Mississippian, Real Talk, Storytelling, Useless Observation

They Can’t Get Rid Of Me

My younger brother could probably have played whatever sport he wanted in high school and done pretty well at it. Maybe not baseball, because I doubt he had the attention span necessary to survive such a slow moving game. The point is, though, that he took to these sort of things quickly, and if he ever stuck to anything he became quite good at it. Once again, attention span is the enemy here.

Eventually, he did settle on one thing and stuck with it for several years. And as we expected, he became very, very good at it.

Oddly enough, though, it was bowling. Continue reading “They Can’t Get Rid Of Me”

Misplaced Mississippian, Real Talk, Storytelling

Orion

I firmly believe that Instagram was created solely to capture sunsets in the Mississippi Delta.

The Delta is unlike anywhere else in the world. There are many aspects of the endless flat fields that do remind me of somewhere in central Ohio or even southwest Ontario. There are many similar qualities, between the straight roads and the fields that stretch into the horizons. But the stark differences hit as soon as the sun starts to go down.

To quote Paul Simon, “The Mississippi Delta is shining like a National guitar”. And when the sun starts to set, it doesn’t just shine: it burns. When the sun starts to sink in the sky, those bright burning hues go shooting across the fields, making an unbelievable sight. It’s something you can’t compare to anything else in the world. It’s something you can’t explain.

You can’t explain how it burns through the atmosphere and across the fields and straight into your soul. Continue reading “Orion”

FICTION Y'ALL

The Offer

The sun was out only what seemed like seconds earlier, but as soon as Thomas stepped onto the restaurant’s patio, the day was overcast and he couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t a good sign. Before he could turn back, though, he heard his name called out from the corner of the patio and felt compelled to follow the voice he heard.

There was only one person out there with him. A person much younger than he expected, which he thought was odd because he didn’t know who he expected at all. A person he had never seen before. And although he had never seen him before, the stranger felt somewhat familiar, as if he knew Thomas well regardless of how well Thomas knew him. It was because of this feeling that Thomas decided it was worthwhile to ignore the dark skies and ignore the fact that he had no idea who the stranger was and went to have a seat across from him.

“Alright, I’ve seen the movies,” Thomas declared as he took his seat. “I know how this works. I press a button and get rich but somebody dies or something, right?” Continue reading “The Offer”