11-18-2022, 09:23 AM
Hobby Horse
In days passing
his irritancy grew
laden on his brow.
Departing
alone, he locked us
in the cabin.
We watched him stride
through the fairy ring
without turning back.
At night the forest whooped
as its branches rustled
with the same irritant.
Thunder cracked out
like a knotted spine,
hail pelted down like
wasp stingers.
From the darkness
arose shadow
defined in flashes.
From deep within
its tuba gut pronounced
an oath that bore
into the earth.
The shadow approached
the now shattered window
and bellowed like a freight train
going through a tunnel.
We pooled at our ears
and the youngest cried out.
The shadow lingered before
it drew away, but in the
darkness between lightning
we believed it was still there.
In the afternoon
birds chirped in blinding sunlight.
He shambled over to our picnic blanket
mottled and covered in scars
with uncharacteristic cheeriness.
I asked him where he'd gone.
"Fishing"
In days passing
his irritancy grew
laden on his brow.
Departing
alone, he locked us
in the cabin.
We watched him stride
through the fairy ring
without turning back.
At night the forest whooped
as its branches rustled
with the same irritant.
Thunder cracked out
like a knotted spine,
hail pelted down like
wasp stingers.
From the darkness
arose shadow
defined in flashes.
From deep within
its tuba gut pronounced
an oath that bore
into the earth.
The shadow approached
the now shattered window
and bellowed like a freight train
going through a tunnel.
We pooled at our ears
and the youngest cried out.
The shadow lingered before
it drew away, but in the
darkness between lightning
we believed it was still there.
In the afternoon
birds chirped in blinding sunlight.
He shambled over to our picnic blanket
mottled and covered in scars
with uncharacteristic cheeriness.
I asked him where he'd gone.
"Fishing"