The Beginning of the End

The house was empty

only went to check on it.

Everyone had disappeared

except for Grandpa

he'd just died.

The living room door was

open

the little dog ran away 
down to the basement.

Come back.

He did 

but not alone.

With her.

One of the missing 

Where have you been?

She didn’t know 

couldn't remember.

A strange air of contentment 

years lost to--what?

No answer.

I am not so brave anymore

Don't make me disappear

or sleep in the basement

let me be in the open 

I will never tell

I swear.

Disruption of the System

Jump out of my throat

I will catch 

me

I can’t I don’t want to

run away run away run away

Coward

yes

and why not

it’s the hair he doesn’t like

there is a story here

sometimes birds eat other

birds’ eggs

nothing to be done about it

I want to be here

let me be here

stop pulling at my

lungs

my chest

I need them

I need them all

Backwards

I know what hate is,

she said.

I know how to hate them

I know how to hate

myself.

So they sent her to someone who

could teach her to

forgive.

He had nothing to do with

God or Christs 
nailed to 
crosses.

It took a long time but
she learned
she learned not
to trust.  

Where is the forgiveness?
they asked.

God or the devil took it

away.

And now whatever you think

you’re going to

hear

is exactly what I am 
not

going to 

say.

Running Away

My head hurts.

Hmmmn, says George.

Yes.

George shrugs.  Sorry, but I can’t help you there.

Have you seen the statue?

What statue?

The statue, he says.  In the

middle of the courtyard.

I don’t go in the courtyard.

I suppose not, George replies.  You don’t

really go anywhere.

No.  Neither do you.

I’ve got the dolls with knives to

worry about, he reminds me.  What’s

your excuse?

It’s not just the dolls, I answer. 

Everything has knives.

Resurrection

Because roadsides exist

for the weary

the unsuspecting

Other than this we can expect

no more compassion

no more understanding

Justifications echo loudly

when even unintentional 

homicide

is death

Beholden No More

Her glassy eyes drove me mad.  In a fit of rage, I took the doll into the kitchen and grabbed a knife.  She said something in that dull, mechanical voice of hers as I slapped her down on the counter, but I refused to listen.  I raised the knife high in the air.  Like a human guillotine I then slammed it down across her neck. 

Her round plastic head jerked back, separated from its body.  She had time to cast me only one last glassy-eyed look before her head fell off the counter.  It rolled along the floor until it came to rest underneath the sink.

I laid the knife down.  With some uncertainty, I pushed my fist into her dolly stomach, but nothing happened.  She was silent at last.

I had killed it.  I had killed the purple witch’s doll.

Unleashed

you cannot come back they whispered into her ear
you belong to us but we don’t want you here
so now she skips off into a night without end
she looks behind her for the plagues they might send
i am one of them whether i am here or there
i am one of them my life you cannot spare
la la la la you cannot break the wall
la la la la it is a hundred feet tall
guarded all around by a thousand beastly men
their axes and their spikes pointed square at her neck
la la la la here it is I smile
la la la la we knew all the while
hum dum de dum together we will go
hum dum pu dum ours is not to know