LatinosUSA

Amazon Book Description

We can close our eyes to reality and pretend things didn’t happen the way they happened. Fiction is the closest to escaping what’s true and painful. This collection of over fifty poetic flash fiction stories will push the boundaries of our reality. It will make us discern things for ourselves and will lead us to understand our true nature better.

Each is a stand-alone story you can read anytime, anywhere, without the need to finish the entire book. But, as soon as you flip to the last page, you will realize there is more to these poetic flash fiction stories than simply a collection of poetic tales.

Excerpt

Locker (banner story)

Locker. A small lockable closet or compartment, typically found in schools, gymnasiums, or train stations, serving as a silent witness to our beginning and end.

It was half past six, and the sun had just decided to take its momentary rest for the day. The university grounds embraced darkness in absolute silence, as if anticipating what was about to unfold.

«What about us?» you whispered. «There was never an ‘us.’ I lied.»

«But I love you,» you asserted.

Oh, gosh! How I had longed for those words to escape your lips. My heart skipped a beat, and the world around me came to a standstill.

The atmosphere fell into an abysmal stillness.

I love you completely, with all my heart. I adored you from the moment our paths collided (I was clumsy). I love you with every stolen glance we shared. I love you with every rhyme we dared to create. I love you amidst the chaos that surrounded us. I loved you even before I knew what love truly meant.

But I lied. I deceived myself and failed to express the depths of my heart.

Why? I don’t know. Perhaps I was young and naive. Maybe I was foolish and impulsive. Perhaps I was arrogant, hoping you would fight for us.

Yet, you did not. You let me go without putting up a worthy fight.

With tears in my eyes, I walked away. Pride filled my mind, while remorse weighed heavy in my heart. I departed with a love I never had the chance to confess.

«I’ll be back soon, and maybe then we can be together.» Another lie. In truth, I never returned.

As I handed you the key, I held my books, bag, and the remnants of our shared locker.

You looked at me once more, your gaze pleading for love, beseeching for a second chance, filled with regret.

What happened to us?

I love you, but I lied.

I yearned to stay, but I couldn’t.

Locker. The sole, unheard witness to our beginning and end.

Locker. The place where your first «I love you» was spoken.

Locker. Where I experienced my first heartbreak, for deceiving you.

I love you, but I lied.

Locker. The space where we broke up for the first time, even though an «us» had never truly existed.

Lock•er /ˈläkər/. A small lockable closet or compartment, observing a love once unspoken, a love once denied.

With time as our ally and the universe as our guiding star, we finally unlocked the key to the locker we once believed would remain forever closed.
© Michelle Ayon Navajas

A Review of «Locker» by Barbara Harris Leonhard

Michelle Ayon Navajas’ latest book, “Locker”, demonstrates her range as a poet and fiction writer. The book consists of 57 poetic flash fiction pieces that comprise a love story. The title, “Locker”, she writes, represents not only the space she and her loved one shared at school but also “the realization of another unlocked dream.” 

The word ‘locker’ has many meanings that I feel provide a container for this love story in deeper ways. A locker is a compartment to protect goods and possessions, and it is accessed and locked with a key. This place is the heart. As I read the stories, I sensed the lovers’ belongings and longings being constantly revealed and then quickly resealed into the heart. The lovers are in a dance, sometimes in embrace and sometimes miles apart as though uncertain whether to unlock or lock their hearts.

Love is definitely a difficult dynamic at times, and these two struggle with passion and dispassion, distance and abandonment, anger and joy, grief and loss, and finally resolution, forgiveness, and union. I felt my heart working hard as I read the stories, following the arc of the characters’ lives and interactions. Although Navajas says we can read each piece independently, there really is a story arc. The lovers meet by sharing a locker at school, and each piece furthers their relationship in its many dimensions to union. 

A ‘locker’ is a niche, where one can leave notes and messages. I think in this case, cell phones and social media serve as ‘lockers’ for the lovers, who fall in and out of touch. The reader feels empathy for the loss of connections and the joy of reconnections.

‘Lockers’ are also places for cold storage, latency, suspension. This love story explores how the temperature of their passion varies from hot to cold, cold to hot, even lukewarm. Like the coffee Navajas references frequently. Finding the lovers in suspended animation is suspenseful.

The book explores severe trauma, betrayal, death and loss, as well. Navajas wants “to push the boundaries of our reality, encouraging readers to discern things for themselves and gain a deeper understanding of our true nature.” As a woman, I found some sections to be devastating. Navajas challenges our ability to empathize, to unlock our own hearts (lockers), and experience the raw harm many women experience when attacked, violated, and miscarry. 

The word ‘locker’ recalls the word ‘locket’. A locket is a personal ornament that holds precious images. Imagine a gold chain with the locket sitting on the heart, gently holding the lovers with all their pain, loss, and passion. Perhaps this trinket represents their new home, their “happily ever after”.
©Barbara Leonhard

Kindle (Paperback is also available)

Author Biography

Michelle Ayon Navajas, a former college professor who taught literature, speech and oral communication, creative writing, drama, and theatre arts, has authored eight books, which can be found on her author page on Amazon. She is also a published author at Spillwords NYC, where several of her poems have been nominated as publications of the month. Her poem, «Holding Hands,» became Spillwords’ Publication of the Year Nominee for 2021. “Love Happens” was voted as Spillwords Publication of the Month for December 2022.. She is also published widely in international literary magazines and journals and is a Treasured Contributor to MasticadoresUSA. She is also part of the award-winning ensemble of authors in two poetry anthologies, both of which became Amazon Best-Sellers: Hidden In Childhood and Wounds I Healed (ed. Gabriela Marie Milton). Amazon Best Selling Author of the poetry book «I Will Love You Forever, Too».

WordPress – https://michnavs.wordpress.com/
Instagram – @poetrybymich
FaceBook – @poetrybymich
You Tube – poetry by mich
Twitter – @poetrybymich