Fear

Fear

 The blinding light and cold made me scream for solace
Losing mommy in the zoo they call a mall
Removing the training wheels and the skinned knees that followed

Wondering if she’ll say yes to Friday night
Waking your parents sneaking out to see her
The first date, moving in for the first kiss

That feeling in the back of your pounding skull asking you if you threw out that last beer
Praying that puke will come out of the carpet
Did anyone drive home last night?

Speeding into the corner with no guardrail
Bombing hills like a B-52 less than three inches off the ground
Losing the brakes on the 66’ in traffic

The flashing lights that grew bigger in your rearview mirror
Tinted windows in a shady unfamiliar neighborhood
Check engine lights and that awful ticking up front

Leaving your childhood behind to start a new
Squeezing the trigger for the first ti...

Fighting For Home

Flakes of shimmering amber
Shower from the iridescent sky
As gorgeous as a child’s first sight of falling snow,
the frozen facial expressions like an open nutcracker.

Bystanders struck by a shockwave of awe.
A deer in the headlights of a freight train.
Mouths agape and crimson lips quivering in terror,
the kind of face your mother said would get stuck that way.
Children are shielded from the mother’s mistake
that has caused this bellowing madness.

Weakened and limp the camouflaged corporal controls himself,
ears ringing louder than the liberty bell’s clamor,
the area as quiet as a hummingbird’s invisible wings.

Wiping the glistening sweat from his bloodied brow,
the soldier stumbles to gather his thoughts.

Sitting up aching and dizzy he grabs a hold of his weapon.
Like a security blanket, the cold metal is comfortable and warm.
Los...