And so I am a child again,
screaming at you from the driver’s seat
while Jack Johnson sings about his same girl,
but I don’t build frames; I built a box around myself
to hide from eyes who could know too much,
and I feel like vomiting
all over the steering wheel of my beat up Kia Sportage
with the broken cup holder and carpet stained
by muddy cleats carelessly thrown in the back seat—
a permanent smell of sweaty plastic and mown grass.
And I just want to down a shot of Jack, chase it with some Coke,
dancing in the bottom of Natalie’s dingy basement
while the Argentine tenants stare and whisper, diciendo
—Che María, ¿cómo estás mi flaca?—Bailás conmigo—
No te preocupés con ese baludo—
instead of driving along the Solway Bridge,
my head involuntarily turning to the right—
your unassuming boathouse laughs at me from across the water.
I think about when we laughed like hyenas
while I tasted the warmth of the purple under glow
your car splattered across the concrete barriers of that bridge
and spilled into the Clinch River down below.
But all hyenas are bloodthirsty when you hear their cackles,
if only I knew that now I would have saved my breath
instead of trying to tame those beasts with suave words,
only to blunder and shout at the top of my tarred lungs—
vete al carajo, get the fuck out of my car,
because you’re only wasting my time;
I’ve built a blanket fort around my box,
untouchable. I hug my knees, picking the scabs
formed from kneeling on bathroom tile.
A contest entry
- prewrites contest!!!!!!!!!!!! enter!!!!! by foreveryourslove.
1120 points, ended November 9, 1072 entries
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Honorable mention
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Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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Every bit as deep as that river...and moving as well
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heavy. I liked this alot, thank you.
love,
jin -
WOW this piece got my attention and sucked me in I love it
Good luck in the contest! -
WOW! Beautiful and bleeding emotion in every perfect line and word... this was an instant favorite. Bookmarking. Thank you for sharing this piece of art!
-K
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This is good, a really strong narrative piece, it very sensory, i feel as though i'm in the story, you bring it to life so well. I like the Spanish it adds another dimension.
'your unassuming boathouse laughs at me from across the water.' I love the personification in this line, for some reason it really stands out to me. Great write!
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