The Queen of Lighting by Nancy Stohlman

The Queen of Lightning sits on her throne, a lightning bolt in each hand while lava pools at her feet. At the bottom of the card a familiar Heartland tableau: rustling corn and fields of sunflowers; the golden glow of the Dollar General and the Cornhusker Hotel and the Foxy Lady Gentleman’s Club; the radio static of other worlds trying to get through to you while a single bolt of lightning ignites the scene: The Corn Maze: on fire. The Waffle House: on fire. Heartland High School and Miss Nebraska and The House of Big Gulps: on fire, fire, fire.

To draw the Queen of Lightning is to rupture, to explode to remember that below any number of benign surfaces molten blood gushes through earth veins. What are you holding too tightly? Whatever it is, the queen will toss it into the flames. See the tiny people running to escape, but it’s too late, they’re overtaken, their shadows already imprinting on future walls...KEEP READING