The Monster You Dread

THE MONSTER YOU DREAD i can’t handle rejection, the unhug of perfection. a piercing scream of perplexion — my complexion streaked grouted and piqued. i backhanded you by closing the splintered door, vainglorious to the core — now you can’t see the open sore. you never uncovered, never looked, never came to find me, i’m overlooked. hiding beneath the bed, i’m the monster you dread — tear-salted tongue, the martyr with claws tearing at my skin - my fear that she sips her coffee carelessly - oh dear... the suicidal stripes down my cheeks sear as my mother wanders through her year. if only a look, a hug, a kind word spoken to me would tear me from this sea forsaken — this torrent, harangue of waves, haplessly dashing, against heart and soul. if only a creak, a scintilla of light would peek into my claustrophobic space, saving me from me. but i, only i...must resolve, unhinge the lock, step out and see the clearing of the crock... all alone on my private island - its unsecured dock. i pretend it never mattered but carry the doom within my flesh, my invisible childhood looms. ready at turn to rear its misshapen head, its claws digging into a buried past — all my flaws... jealousy pops up in the middle of my joy i stomp the frenetic beast, clawing its face. i refuse to be that monster, that disgrace! 6/14/2019 Move me Poetry Contest Sponsor: Richard Lamoureux