Editor's Note: For the first time in the history of the San Mateo County Fair, a 300-page anthology has been published that includes more than 100 stories, poems and essays from writers who submitted award-winning work for the fair's literary contest. The idea was the brainchild of Bardi Rosman Koodrin, a San Bruno resident who runs the fair's literary contest, and the anthology, titled "Carry the Light," features work from many Peninsula writers.
"My Moments in Madness," which appears in the San Mateo County Fair anthology Carry the Light, details how one struggles and finally appreciates the unexpected obstacles that invade everyone's lives.
From p. 285, "My Moments in Madness"
My moments in madness
Are cutting and deep,
Are fleeting and hungry
Too frantic for sleep.
They force me to savor
Each step that I take,
For soon without warning
The beasts may awake
To tear through the threadings,
In careless restraint,
The plans I had woven
With blood sweat and paint.
Then worn, spent, and breathless
The beasts hunker down
To prey in the corner
Until the next round
I now know the tickings
Of mines underneath
My moments in madness
Are blessings, unsheathed.
Excerpted from "Carry the Light" with the permission of Sand Hill Review Press, the publisher. The book is available for purchase for $12 on Amazon.com.
From her comfy flat in San Mateo, Charlotte Cheng currently works as a freelance illustrator and educational consultant for a variety of different programs and companies. Her artwork has been featured in exhibitions, conventions and picture books, including "A Moment in Time," which debuts this year. Check out her website, www.charlotteillustrations.com, to see more of
her work.
