Challenge
Slaying monsters
"Heroes need monsters to establish their heroic credentials. You need something scary to overcome." Margaret Atwood
Poetry or prose.
Ghost
my husband and I joke
that I'm not really
living this life right now
I'm not really
a wife and dog mom
in a deluxe house and town
I'm back in Berkeley
the place where we first met
where I spent the early stages
of the pandemic
I'm in lockdown
that has gone on
for four years without pause
my dog Ernest is a rabid raccoon
that I pet and have become sick from
my California house
and our vacations
are a calendar of images
I hang in up my closet
stroking each picture
I am talking to myself
convinced I've survived
when I'm only insane,
diseased, a ghost with nothing
tangible to touch
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