Today’s prompt for Writer’s Digest Poetic Asides poem-a-day challenge is memory.
“Memory”
Frozen night,
Black ribbon of asphalt
Unwinding before our twin beams of light.
A sign looms overhead
Warning of steep descent.
We crest the hill
And see a red-lighted
Line snaking up toward us.
Brake hard. Hold Breath. Sigh
Relief as we miss the lying last car.
Bang.
Eyes pop wide.
Left hand lifts
To cradle my injured neck.
I breathe.
Boom.
Windshield draws near.
Seatbelt locks.
My head hits its rest.
But I don’t feel it.
I’m in shock.
Silence.
For a beat,
As I absorb the fact that the bitch in back
Has locked us four together
While a fifth white car flies past us all on the right.
Sirens wail.
Red, White, Blue, Red, White, Red.
Doors pop open as cars zip past on the left.
Someone cries, someone laughs.
The raven sky watches.
My life has ended. I am dead.
My life has begun. I am undone.
