Oh, I craved it constantly, then a sudden explosion.

The public was fascinated, fawning. I was inside a window of luminosity that broke the law of conservation. More joy flooded from me than I was stocked with.

A brief moment.

Then came the weight, far more than I ever dreamed.

Todd Mercer was nominated for Best of the Net in 2018. Recent work appears in The Magnolia Review, Praxis, and SOFTBLOW Journal.