High atop Mount Greylock, we watch the sun go dark—ignoring the barking dogs, screaming children, and teenagers with their thumping boom box. A chilled wind sweeps the ridge as the light shifts into strangeness.

Driving home, our GPS fails and we get lost. We pull into the parking lot of a convenience store; my girlfriend runs for the restroom while I wait in the car. An ancient purple Lincoln Continental rolls up beside me. A young man gets out, places a handgun in his belt, then pulls his shirt out to conceal it. He walks toward the cash register. Heart pounding, I dial 911.

eclipse of the sun 
eclipsed 
by a man with a gun 

Stephen W. Leslie

holds two M.S. degrees, one in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola College and one in Economic Education from Johns Hopkins University. He is a retired mental health counselor, and hospital and hospice chaplain. His prose and poems have been inspired by the lives of patients, clients, and co-workers in the challenges of providing health care.

Leslie’s writing has appeared in the US-based journals contemporary haibun online, Haibun Today, and Three Line Poetry; as well as in Paper Wasp in Australia and World Haiku Review in the UK. (See links below.) His poem “her far away look” was awarded a silver medal in Japan’s 16th annual International Kusamakura Haiku Poetry Competition (2011).

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ On Practicing: “On February 15, 1973, I made a commitment to meditate every day without fail, and I’ve kept that commitment for fifty-three years...” by Stephen W. Leslie in “Readers Write: Practicing” in The Sun Magazine (May 2026); also featured on The Sun’s Facebook page (15 May 2026).

⚡ Helen of Troy and Hannah by Leslie in contemporary haibun online 9.2 (July 2013)

⚡ Kent State by Leslie in Haibun Today 6:3 (September 2012)

⚡ Spring Planting and Soda Fountain by Leslie in contemporary haibun online 8.2 (July 2012)

⚡ Haiku by Leslie in Three Line Poetry: Issues 13 and 10 (printed 18 June 2012); 9 (printed 17 March 2012); 7 (printed 2 March 2012); and 4 (printed with Issue 3 in July 2011)

⚡ Haiku of Merit by Leslie in World Haiku Review (December 2011: Haiku page 3: Vanguard)

⚡ Elevator Music and Joe by Leslie in contemporary haibun online 7.2 (July 2011)