Hilary D Zamora writes and paints

Off to the side was a rusty swing set missing one swing, and the second, dangled idly from one chain, like a broken arm. With a few forgotten toys littered about, the scene instantly saddened me. The big plastic colorful fortress for young children to play on was partially dismantled. With yellow, blue, and green segments faded from the sun, they reminded me of a slow healing bruise. Each part lying in disarray, broken from their past, provided an ideal metaphor for what was inside. I couldn’t imagine children playing here behind the chain link fence which was battered with its history. For some reason seeing rusting and demolished toys instilled in me a bitter sorrow I couldn’t identify, a reminder of someone’s vanished, unsafe and unstable, haunted childhood. ~Hilary D Zamora