Grew up in a small town
A subrural nowhere
Somewhere on the map
Near somewhere you might have heard of
*
A small community
Smelling of horses, skunk weed, and gasoline
Hay and cottonwood a-plenty
Where allergies spring all year ‘round
*
An insurance company’s nightmare
Dry as a desert rose
Strike one match and watch it blow
Away in ash and embers
*
A vortex of despair
Off Highway 666
It sucks its residents in
And never lets them go
*
One day I will rip free
Defy all the physics and escape
This blackhole of a town
Never to return
Home
About the Creator
Stephanie Hoogstad
With a BA in English and MSc in Creative Writing, writing is my life. I have edited and ghost written for years with some published stories and poems of my own.
Learn more about me: thewritersscrapbin.com
Support my writing: Patreon
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3:00 AM Challenge Winners
B. A. Durham’s False Memories blends dream and reality in a seamless mix. As his father, afflicted by Alzheimer’s, fades away, the narrator is haunted by a dream that may be a memory, returning to him insistently. The piece is full of wonderful detail (the father touching his lip where once there was a mustache, “but now he is clean-shaven—he has been for years” — and moving in revealing the complexities of a family’s life. A worthy winner which shows the power of dreams to influence us.
By Vocal Curation Teama day ago in Resources
Comments (2)
This was so sad and emotional! Loved your poem!
I thought I loved the "smelling of horses, skunk weed and gasoline" line, but then I got to "strike a match". Clever and vivid 😁