Doorway
a poem by Rhonda Parrish
The new Underside year has begun slowly, at least as posts go. This is the first! Welcome to 2024 before it feels old. We will continue with the slow beginning by not requiring too much of you.
In that it is short, but not in that it is an easy read, for poetry is rarely meant to be easy. Oh yes, the words are easy, flowing off the tongue, meshing together like the perfect puzzle pieces. But the meaning—well, that will challenge you. The door into 2024 awaits.
Doorway
by Rhonda Parrish
There were no disembodied screams
no reaching hands trying to snag me
as the branch had snagged
her hair–
to end me
as the rope had ended
her life
But she was there
still
Seething.
Hating.
Blaming.
I knew her in the shifting shadows
always just
out of the corner
of my eye
in the rustling whispers
always just
one room away–
indistinct and murmuring
rustling on the very edge
of sanity.
I felt her in the cold drafts
sprung from nowhere, caressing
with icy fingers,
in sleep chased away by nightmares
indistinct terror
night after night
Distorting.
Transforming. The elm
now
a doorway
The noose a key
the end
a beginning
Meet the author:
Rhonda Parrish is constantly creating shiny new poems and stories. She hoards them, like a magpie dragon, at https://www.patreon.com/RhondaParrish – the only place in the multiverse many of them can be found.
More poetry? Find it here:
Dark Poems
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I Don't Normally Go South of the River
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This is such a great poem. I went and followed the author on Twitter to see more of her work! Thanks for sharing!