Queens of the Judas Tree

by Richard J. O’Brien

Mother had been luckier than me. She was from Goa. When she burst forth from Grandmother’s womb, she flew out of the house with the blue and black wings of a Morpho Menelaus butterfly, and she did not return home until she was nearly six months old. I was born with bee wings on my back, the length of my body, like translucent paper wings of a honey bee….

Richard J. O’Brien lives in outside of Philadelphia, PA. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Currently, Richard teaches first-year composition and literature at Mercer County Community College, Stockton University, and Temple University. In the distant past, he served in the US Army before the Berlin Wall came down. After that he attended Rutgers University where he studied writing and literature.

 

Richard O'Brien
Richard J. O’Brien lives in outside of Philadelphia, PA. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Currently, Richard teaches first-year composition and literature at Mercer County Community College, Stockton University, and Temple University. In the distant past, he served in the US Army before the Berlin Wall came down. After that he attended Rutgers University where he studied writing and literature.