Month: April 2018
Haunted Radio
Jenna brushed the years of dust from the radio, opened the tape deck, and blew it clean.
“This is gonna be awesome! Nana will love this! She’ll finally be able to play her old cassette tapes from the 80’s. I’ve been looking all over for something like this”!
She slipped a sample tape into the deck and tested each button to see if they worked. The radio hummed slowly. A grunting sound emerged from the speakers. A drone like voice began wailing into her ears. Slowly, she turned up the volume as she sat closer to the radio, examining its design. A furry growth stuck out of the antenna.
“Hey! What’s this?!”
Jenna shouted to the air around her. No one answered. The wailing voice from the cassette tape grew louder and louder. She steadied her legs, pressing her hands on each to keep them from shaking, then she reached for the antenna again.
“This wasn’t here before. I bet that guy at the shop tricked me. This is a worthless piece of junk”!
Jenna leaned in to pull the radio in her grasp to discard it and a creature oozed out of the antenna. He grew tall as the building, overshadowing every outline of the city block. It said only four words.
“Give me your heart”.
Jenna paused. Her mouth flew open, her toes tapped the floor, and her eyes began to water.
“Give me your heart”.
The creature shifted, changing colors as it sputtered demands. It made one last request for what it sought and just before it could utter another word, Jenna ripped open her chest, dug into her body, and pulled out her beating heart. The creature smiled and pressed the stop button on the radio.
Jenna’s body flopped to the ground, convulsed, then expired. Breathing in satisfaction, the creature yanked the heart from Jenna’s hand and bit into it. Savoring the taste of the bloody feast, the creature yearned to answer the only question haunting its mind…
“Now, who’s next?”
The One I Spared
Hidden, coiled into itself,
reminding me of how
you disappear whenever I
get close to you.
You trap yourself,
closed off from the world
closed off from me.
Somehow, the wall you
built for me is not my Jericho.
I break through it every time.
You stand on unsure footing
knowing that you are safe
yet still full of fear.
I could not hurt you
if I tried.
You know this,
begging me to keep my word.
I do.
Calmly, you turn to me,
whisper into my listening ear
and say,
“I need you now more
than I ever did before. Promise me
you will stay.”
I never met a promise I
could not keep and
for you, this remains true.
Ten: A Senryu
Jernee, my savior
She keeps me from feeling down
When life becomes blue.
Forevermore
I am broken without you
shards of glass shifting down the tracks–
you cover me with your warmth,
breaths that I inhale, savoring each one.
I see you in glimpses of light,
waving on the windowsill,
I crave your touch.
It is a blessing to watch you sleep,
smile at you when you wake–
a gift unwrapped with caution.
You are still fragile with me.
Every curve of your body
settles into my embrace,
I will not break you.
I say this as I feel the beats of
your heart sync in time with mine.
You are safe in my care.
Forever is not enough time
with you.
I want ten thousand forevers
and twenty more after.
And even then,
That wouldn’t be enough.
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ©Lao Tzu
Covered
When you are a young “Child of God,” in a family of his older children, no one tells you that being different is wrong. No one has to. You know it without words slithering into form or braving the wild storms that swirl in your head.
You shelter yourself. You hide behind notebooks, play sports, befriend a flute, or mother children that come long after you. But you don’t say who you are. You don’t show it, either.
Everyone has their opinion of what and who you will become. They design a life for you that encompasses change, but includes their beliefs and straying away from those would further alienate you from the flock.
Where does a sheep go when it’s afraid of losing its home?
Labels… You run away from them. It is easy to pass the ball or alley-oop it off to someone else and watch them dunk what you cannot. They land on their feet, relieved of the weight. You stand by witnessing what could be you, but fear of isolation is bigger than the removal of burdens.
So you cover yourself with words and lose yourself in their embrace. Layers of your past flood the pages. But you still haven’t said what needs to be said. Life is waiting for you to back it up.
Where does a sheep go when it’s afraid of losing its home?
Nowhere.
A Cornered Gurl 
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