I Killed A Child
The deepest secret
that I never told
was that I killed a child
when I was thirteen.
She was bright
and dreamed
of space travel
and of inventing fantastic machines.
I yanked her from
her fluffy bed,
dragged her to the living room,
turned on the TV.
I stabbed her eyes
with a steely knife
formed of
pictures
of sand dunes and
of tanks exploding.
And I whimpered to her
as darkness
replaced the life that bled from her:
"That is where your daddy is"
I took a gun
and shot her ears
with the cries
of starved children
and the shrieks of vultures
ready to devour.
And I screamed at her
through salty tears:
"It's too late for you to save them!"
Her knees wobbled
somehow still alive
on life support
from the small light of hope
that drove her youthful soul.
And so I mustered
the shred of strength -or fear- left of me,
to explain
in a soft whisper
that some people
lose all hope
that they extinguish their light
entirely.
And at this, her color drained
from red
to white
to blue,
the same colors
as it happens
that her father
could be wrapped in.
I killed a child
when I was thirteen.
I killed a child
and that child was me.
#ProseChallenge #DeepestSecrets
In These Small Sounds
These walls hear dreams.
As one goes, white noise follows
Into these rooms, and it reverberates
From ceiling to
Corner and corner and
Back again.
Louder, it grows
As notes add on.
In the bare brush of feet
Along this carpet,
In the faint strains
Of this song or another,
In the cracking of these
Sore knuckles,
In the pre-recorded applause
Of late night with
Insert name here,
In the rustle of weight
Shifting and sheets moving,
In the bangs of falling things
And muffled curses from
Hurting others,
In the clicking of a pen
And the jingle of
Keys,
In the rush of a door
Slam shaking the foundation,
In the scraping of a fork
And drip of
A leaky faucet,
In the riotous laughter
Outnumbered by the
Soft pull of tissues
From a box,
Collectively it is the whole of
An existence.
Decipher the static and
All you will hear
Is a life, in these
Small sounds.
Hi
Hello! I'm Brittney. I am married & a Mom of 3 boys. I homeschool and sell crafts and stuff on etsy. I love coffee, books, & video games. I am currently working on a sci-fi novel called "Aurora". If you like female main characters/hero's, outerspace, the apocalypse, and extraterrestrials you will like my book. I also write poetry.
I'm happy to be here & to have found Prose! :)
