You know, I often don’t know where things in my stories come from, and that’s doubly true when I’m responding to a prompt. I’m just trying to use the suggested words and images in an interesting way.
Which leads me to this poem, written for Clan Destine Press’s latest story prompt. The words were: Don’t go; Paws; Slam; Burn.
Since CDP publishes a lot of crime, I wanted to write a story about murder and revenge, but I honestly did not expect it to come from this angle.
Patience
I have meant and done you harm
Disguised beneath my canny charm
So none believe in you
You are trapped, imprisoned here
There’s no escaping me, my dear
Not straight away, that’s true.
Don’t slam the door or slink away
Or plot to burn me down today
Revenge is better cold
And served up with a clever, sly
Pre-determined alibi
That under stress will hold.
Resist the worn out metaphors
Equating stealth with padded paws
Find other ways to stalk
Bide your time and make your plot
Until you think that I’ve forgot
Your will to do me in
And enjoy the wild surprise
Reflected in my dying eyes
As I perish for my sin