What is She Doing Over There
With a pen in her mouth and ink in her hair?
What is she doing over there? Eyes glassy. Blank stare? Is that ink in her hair?
Words pressing in her brain. Images went in, they want out again. They are trapped in a prison of fear and shame. The words want out. Now! They are beginning to cause pain.
The small voices speak inside her. They say she is bad; she is wrong, they can’t abide her. She’ll fail. She’ll fall. She’ll stay off the horse. She’ll let it ride her.
Too many years chasing the dragon. The words build and build. She hops on the wagon.
Years and years later, she finds she has a choice. She doesn’t have to listen to that small yelling voice.
It sounds so believable. It sounds like her mother. She refuses to listen. She won’t let it smother.
She grabs paper and pen. She smiles and writes, releasing the words once again.
Stronger now than ever, she is starting to show it. Releasing the pressure. Revealing the writer.
She became a poet.
This story was originally published in October of 2019 in response to this prompt
