Something Broke
She was the smiling blonde,
the one with the beautiful girls
and the doting husband.
You remember,
the one the kids all loved,
their favorite teacher.
She won't be coming back
this year, nor the next.
Sometime in the fall, something
broke inside and she called
her youngest daughter
along with the family dog
into the bathroom.
Why? Why is it always the bathroom?
Tile, hard, non-porous surfaces?
Water for ease of cleaning?
Does this small piece of reason prevail
when all other sanity fails?
She shot the dog first,
much to daughter's dismay,
then took aim at the girl
as she crouched over her pet,
trying to stop the pain. Daughter
was gone before she could form
last words, Mama, why?
She then turned the gun
on herself. Death played
a cruel trick that day
and left her there, in a pool
of her offspring's blood, living
to regret what she had done.
Snake
He rolled over and touched her
that morning. As always,
first reaching for the warmth of her crotch,
the part of her he knew most well.
His hand recoiled when he felt empty
skin crumbling in greedy fingertips
and then the quick puncture of fangs
punching an angry hole in his palm.
Wide awake, he was amazed to see
the snake slithering away, shimmying
as though ecstatic to escape the tight
confines of his lonely wife's body.
Looking back, he had to admit
he's known for some time
something was steadily sucking
life from his wife. Such a sorry shame.
Still, he missed her crotch.
Death
It was a perfect summer day
when death came stalking.
Our little bunny, Snowy
answered the call.
And I, who call myself strong,
I could not do the things
that needed to be done
when death visits
so early on a hot summer
morning. My younger sister
came and entombed
the poor creature in a garbage
bag coffin. She was the one
who carried the victim
away and buried him,
deep in my mother's garden.
I, who call myself strong,
I could not touch death.