Pretty Flower

Pretty Flower

The moment nurse Joy gave me my meds,
I remembered sitting upon the rocky mountaintop with Gloria .
The breeze was combing through the emerald blades of grass.
The sky was vibrant as a sapphire with the
sun being but an orb cloaked by the smokey trails of jets.
Cheerful birds chirped over the rushing water of a
distant stream. It was quiet enough for animals to explore
beyond their rocks. How I would love to lie in a patch of this
swaying grass and go to sleep forever.

But no, the pill kicked in and my body was not ready
for the side effects. Gloria violently slipped
and rolled down the mountain and hit her head on a sharp
rock. The red paint where her head once laid haunts me.
I tied her body in vines and placed her in the cold, cavern passage
hidden northwest of here. So romantic.
Maybe one day she will grow into a flower that
would pierce through the tip of this very mountain.

Soon after, a bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens.
A roaring forest fire ate at the twisted thicket behind me.
The animals grabbed their young to search for a more promising
home. I was freezing from the raindrops that felt like
stinging icicles.

I looked up at nurse Joy screaming my name through
the glass separating us. She’s one of my biggest fans.
As I was telling the story,
I drew the mountain for nurse Joy upon the plexiglass.
But I cannot stop this red paint from squirting
from the cuff of my shirt.
“Jesus, where is the green paint so I can add detail?, amen.”
The art show will start at any second. I always love how they
knock down my door just to view my paintings.
I think Gloria would appreciate the fame I’m getting now as well.
I wonder if her undiscovered body ever grew into that
pretty flower.

Shadow House

Shadow House

Down a rocky driveway camouflaged by the forest,

A shadow stretched from a house, the one that I lived in.

She gave birth to me on a cold, Winter day.

And raised me up in a shade of secrecy.

Innocent blue eyes and sandy blonde hair.

As a boy, I would gaze into the sincerity of their eyes.

Wanting to know if their intentions were real.

But feelings were numb, maybe I just needed a hug.

To feel something, because this emptiness did not suffice.

One day I thought, “maybe this isn’t real.”

These shapes, this grass, these skies...

It’s just a disguise for the reality I’m making

inside my head.

After a Summer rain shower,

I would lace up my rain boots and stand in a mud puddle.

I slowly sank a few inches into the earth, but it wasn’t enough.

I wanted to leave here. I knew there was a place beyond this.

And as I grew tall as a flower in Spring,

the confusion inside this house thickened.

The weeds loomed over me. Devastating.

They were nice, and then they were mean.

“Why are you hitting me!?”I cried.

“What are you doing with that knife under your bed?” She screamed.

“I was just carving a pumpkin, ma.”

“But Halloween is over. Take off the mask and be a normal boy!”

I answered, “But I cannot. This mask hides me from monsters 

like you and daddy.”

Our pumpkin patch grew high that Fall. I carved a face in them all to escape reality.

Glowing like the fire of a pyromaniac, my jack-o-lanterns lit the foggy streets.

Equipped with rain boots, mask, and cape, I walked to each neighbor’s house.

But a shadow stretched from that house, the one that I lived in.