Angela Douglas | + Follow Poet |
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Flies

Word of the murder moved swiftly 
up and down my small town street 
in the humid heat of that July morning 
before the news crews with their cameras
descended like gnats on the neighborhood
to capture what they could of the carnage
a bloody palm print inside the back door 
the sheet bearing scarlet stains
in which she had wrapped his body 
after stabbing him thirty two times 
in his sleep before concealing 
his corpse in the bedroom closet
spread out on the grass as flies gathered 
like the crowd behind the police tape
seduced by the scent of death

Copyright © Angela Douglas | Year Posted 2022

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Richard Palmer Date: 1/9/2022 2:08:00 PM when love turns hate, no more respect or rate, leave before it's too late,,, great write, see the memories are still fresh,,, Login to Reply Angela Douglas Date: 1/9/2022 2:19:00 PM Thanks. Yes, the memories of it are very fresh and that was thirty years ago. I can clearly picture that bloody handprint inside the screen door. What was really weird was when I got to high school, I ended up getting her old French textbook. She claimed he was abusive and that's why she did it, which is more than likely true. I can't imagine stabbing someone 32 times if they were a great guy that treated you well.

Karen Croft Date: 1/9/2022 5:18:00 AM wow! this kept me reading all the way to the end!! excellent piece of writing. Login to Reply Angela Douglas Date: 1/9/2022 2:09:00 PM Thanks. It's a true story. He was 23, she was 20. They had a 3 yr old son. It was a duplex they were renting. I guess he was abusive and she was high on cocaine and snapped and stabbed him in his sleep, wrapped him in a sheet, stuffed him in the closet, and went out drinking, leaving their 3 yr old there alone w/ the body though he was sleeping. When she sobered up she called her parents and told them what she'd done. I didn't think about it then, but it seems strange now my parents allowed my 11 yr old brother and I to go there. We ended up helping one of the news crews move their equipment around so got a front row seat and they didn't seem to think it was wrong or weird either.