The first time I met terror
an Adriatic bus
careered
’round curves
all sun-bleached
washed out
Heat haze sky
cloudless view
Mediterranean
near-Azure
below
plummeting cliffs
This ride alone
enough to
taunt Bejeezus
out of my body
running screaming
down the aisle
Beneath this fear
the incalculable
dread mourning
Whispers
in a bedroom
left behind
Her face indistinct
only breath
in my ear
Soft words
all sibilance
and rushing
That I held a chance
a marvel
a wonder
That I held her
in that dim room
all shades of dark
That I held a chance
only now
so clear
as fishing boats
tempt this bus
to fly
Her breath
in my ear
whispering
hope for a moment
her welcoming
shadow
Whispering
Today’s prompt – “whispered shadows” – was an interesting one to write.
Initially, I was tempted to go back to my horror roots – half-heard voices from the dark is stock in trade there, for sure.
As always, I flipped it over – wanting to write about broad daylight rather than the night.
As it was, I ended up writing about both.
Within a verse, I knew I was writing a definite call-back to a short story from a LONG time ago, called AISLE.
I didn’t go back and re-read the story in preparation – just drew upon my memory of its soul.
Here, I tried to capture a moment of that character’s journey, a moment of his reflection, a moment of his remorse.
An odd feeling to reinhabit a narrator first written 30 years ago – like I say, interesting.
Leave me a prompt and I’ll write you al little something 🙂
