You were kings and jesters, explorers and whores, but mostly, you were poor, common, ignorant, faithful and faithless. You believed in the reality of your Maker, and in odds alone. You sought nothing but pleasure in a world without tomorrows and yet looked only to heaven. So many masks you wore. And yet, priest or heathen, conqueror or slave, always you were only One. It mattered not that one man gained the temporary eternity of fame through pro basketball superstardom, or that you toiled in anonymity on unpublished opuses, or that your womb laid barren while others produced more children than their hands had fingers. For in the end, you were all of them. You, the myth maker and the hero. You the herald and the heralded. You, the cast and the audience as well. You play all parts, sublime and absurd. You dictate all circumstance, profound and farce. You wear all masks, only to take each off and show your faceless face to yourself, the only player that is.
© 2022 by Michael C. Just
Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.
You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23
Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002
Four of his short stories have recently been published online:
Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)
The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW
I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October
Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within