It was us, the moon, and the unyielding desert. As unyielding as the cancer that ate his body as we traveled between cow towns, looking for work and trouble.
Writing by Callie S. Blackstone
Art by Shad Clark
The Western
It was us, the moon, and the unyielding desert. As unyielding as the cancer that ate his body as we traveled between cow towns, looking for work and trouble. We never said it out loud but we always thought it would be the law’s guns that would take us, not a disease that whittled away the body. You might hear the lone bird calling or wind stirring up the sand but the desert at night is usually a quiet place. The old horse shifted under his weight as his moans echoed the land, an undying song that would attract bandits. The type of folks out on the badlands at night are only looking for trouble. When I suggested we settle down he was agreeable. I laid out the tack blanket, the red and white pattern highlighting the paleness of his skin under that old moon. I told him what I gave him was medicine but when he looked in my eyes we both knew it was just placebo. We both knew when it was time to surrender. His moans died down and the blanket fluttered around him in the wind.
About the Author
Callie S. Blackstone writes both poetry and prose. Her debut chapbook sing eternal is available through Bottlecap Press.
About the Artist
Shad Clark is a writer, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary visual artist. His work explores the liminal spaces between being and otherness through stories and imagery delving into nature, body horror, science, and technology.
Clark’s original short films have played festivals around the world and, along with original screenplays, they have won awards and other recognition. Clark has worked as a collaborator and creative mercenary on other films, as well as in marketing the occasional comic, and a handful of games.
Lately, Clark’s been exploring and visualizing some more ambitious ideas through digital compositing and collage, using original manipulated photography and assets he’s art directing to AI. When not working in socially explosive art and fiction, Clark researches and writes about animals and environmental issues.
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