For today’s images I had fun with paint and markers.
OctPoWriMo 2023:Facing Our Fears
Don’t Say Anything At All
Mama said, if I can’t say anything nice
don’t say anything at all
so my not nice thoughts
they have been building up
and I’ve bit my tongue to bleeding
Mama said, never talk to strangers
I think she’s afraid of words
the pressure of all the things unsaid
is building as I bite my tongue
Mama said, if I can’t say anything nice
my head will burst and fill the air
with all the mean things I didn’t say
especially to strangers
who never try to give me candy and
don’t say anything at all
I think Mama worries that I will
make people angry, or embarrass her
with all the mean things I could say
I think Mama just likes the quiet
My not nice things to say
would grate on her nerves
she just wants to look at me
and believe that I am sweet and kind
not so full of mean words I will burst
they have been building up inside
Does she not see the blood
always dripping from my lips
my teeth like a wall holding in the words
by biting my tongue?
Writober 2023
In the dead of night I feel your fur on my face, your weight on my chest, and I hurry to let you out. Because I know from experience that if I don’t, you’ll pee on my laundry in a pile in the corner. I stretch my fingers as far as they’ll go, trying not to disturb you and flick on the bedside lamp. I hold in a scream as your nose so close to mine looks distinctly like a human skull, and blue and pink lights floating in your eyes look like screaming captured souls.
I blink my tired eyes, and that horrible vision is gone. You are just a patient cat wanting to stalk the night. I pick you up watching your nose for skull-like form as my feet take us along our well-worn path to the glass sliding door. I place you on the mat outside, and you bound off over the grass. But the vision haunts me and I’m not in a hurry to let you back in. I worry that I am one of those screaming pink or blue lights in your eyes. I wonder how long it has been.
Experience Writing 