She was more of an idea

Than a person, yet

Her arms reached through

The wrinkled pages

As I was planning

Her defenestration.



“Don't,” she said, holding

My hand steady.

Her typical loquaciousness

Gone in a moment - being

At the rim does that.

Her desperate idea-fingers

Grasping, trying to stop

The Dusk.



I brooded over her

Resistance. This story

Would be knee-deep

In hardship, in never-before-felt

Pain. How could I put her

In the middle of this

Vast dystopian wastebasket

And hope she clamors

Out?



Perhaps I could give her

A companion, a slobber-filled

Canine or a not-so-kindred

Spirit?



I could fill her days

With synchronicity, with a

This-leads-to-that purpose, to fight through

The drawl and the drudge,

The beginning.



In this oneiric world,

More nightmarish than

The last, she would find

Herself at the cusp of

Her Self.



First demure, red lips

Parting only for candy-laced words,

And then later, only

To respect a humble god or command

Her hunger-ridden army

To live.



Yes, I see the smoke

At the perimeter now.

Go, my Dear, go see

Who you are.



--



Mad Words List 5.15.18



Defenestration

Loquacious

Kindred

Synchronicity

Oneiric

Smoke

Perimeter

Rim

Cusp

Demure

Red

Slobber

Dusk

Brood

Vast



--



As an aspiring author and poet, I often devise characters I'm unsure about. I also become conflicted with creating an environment for my characters that is set up to test them, even when I know it is necessary in order to help them grow and change and learn about life. Much like a parent who questions bringing a child into a world where school shootings or disaster happens every day, as an author I question why I'm creating this character, why am I setting them up to fail or to learn? And just like a parent, I have to see the good that comes from being alive, from growing, from learning despite all the struggle and pain. I also have to determine how best to guide them and what messages I want to not only teach them, but readers as well. Through fiction, we find examples on how best to live life. And sometimes giving a life a chance can lead to great things, even your own life.