Disperse my children

For the birds of prey have finally come

to hunt.

I was idle in their absence.

Unmotivated, yet paranoid

as if the knowing were enough.

As if I truly needed to be my own

witness in a crowd of weeping eyes

and tender, sickly smiles.

The destruction I noticed mimicked

the small, obscure game board pieces

I’d owned when I was bored

and reckless and fascinated with the

science of breaking things.

The velocity

–the leaving and taking of whatever part of my

soul I’d put into them.

But now the birds of prey have

finally come to destroy the rest.

Answer the stunted, painful prayer

of my twisted longing.

You see, fear curled and writhed in

my belly like a snake; it turned

the things I ate to ash and

hopelessness.

Flee, my offspring, for the devils

have come to raze our city to the Ground.

Artwork provided by Anita Rollins, VOX Staff.