they caught me staring into the sun
stretching my eyes wide
and opening my mouth
as though to swallow what remnants remained.
my hands were clenched tight
at my side against the fabric
already soaked in summer sweat.
I was startled when she shook my shoulders
my mother with her brown hair
that fell over her shoulder
like bird feathers layer against a wing
she made me turn my back
on the sun and its thousand reflections
in the rippled sea
and I screamed
when instead of her face there was nothing
but a pulsing black hole
that throbbed and bent in and out
towards me always towards me
I thought this creature she
would eat me. Alive.
I remember this now
with a small laugh to cover
the instinctive chill and flicking action of my fingers
as though to cast the thought away
thinking how many faces now
are the same to me
how empty and hungry they are
and I clench my fists against the cold
squint my eyes closed and purse my lips
anything to keep them out
those thousand faces identified
by nothing but their lack of a face
I am haunted always by the way her hair
looked in the wind as she walked away
like feathers on a flying bird
I looked full into the face of love
once
and now I walk blind.
She consumed my soul. Alive.
And left me to live.
3 comments:
i used to do that too, and then blink and watch the light appear where there had been empty faces. the electric blue eye is as terrifying as the dark void.
Amazing work again, hannah dear. i never really thought of feathers as creepy until i read it. *shiver-cringe*
:D
I. LOVE. THIS.
more than anything else I ever remember you writing.
--
not so much for the style or diction or rhythm,
but solely for the concept.
I'll have to ponder this one...but good, as always dear. Your writing stirs me, more than some other poetry I take the time to read :D Hugs!
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