MAYHEM
Issue Two – November 2014
ISSN 2382-0322
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Melody Wilkinson
Seasoning
I remember the dive
I remember stinging sunburned eyelids and hating sticky ice cream cones
Mud and water skippers
I remember the ceiling fan; would today be the day it would fall and decapitate us all?
The babysitter and the chicken potpies
I remember the shoes with the red button on the heel that made me super fast
The slide dragged into the ditch
I remember burned thighs from sticking to the metal
That lie I told
I remember hiding in the basement from the wind
When the witch kept me prisoner in the shed. My only food: poison berries
I remember street lamps and bike wheels kicking up leaves
Running from Bonnie in Sunday shoes and how they never quite made it up the playhouse ramp
in time
I remember the Winnebago - flying in the bed up top
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© Copyright remains with the individual author
MAYHEM
Issue Two – November 2014
ISSN 2382-0322
______________________________________________________________________________
The whoosh through the trees I used to think only in Estes
I remember Teddy’s Teeth
Clicking fingernails on ivory keys
I remember I hate Stranger on the Shore
The failed lie for my sister - she never asked again
I remember the igloo - never finished - hands numb in the dark
The blizzard when the snow from the roof met the snow on the ground
I remember Grandpa’s sled - the fastest in the neighborhood
The hill of death and the profanities it caused
I remember creamy mac and cheese and mashed potatoes at Wyatt’s on Wednesdays
Falling asleep to meetings in the living room; the way the prayers crept under the door
The Australian and the shock that he had removed his shoes
I remember… even now the shame squeezes my head cold and my face goes red
I remember the reversible rain coat and the basket it arrived in
Dyed eggs - the way they stuck in my throat - I always hated the white bit
I remember the world tours in the red wagon - its squeak and the bumps that made my butt numb
The flowers we pulled to sell and Mom trying to replant them with her tears
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
© Copyright remains with the individual author
MAYHEM
Issue Two – November 2014
ISSN 2382-0322
______________________________________________________________________________
I remember my frustration with watermelon
its seeds interrupting its flavor
the way it seemed to be everywhere
gummy drips of pink clinging to my arms and my party dress
I remember the apology and how it was powerless to fix anything
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© Copyright remains with the individual author