I Spilled My Corn Flakes Poem by JUSTIN W Price

I Spilled My Corn Flakes



It’s October and I’m
getting ready for school with my brother.
I’m in footie pajamas and I’m
eating corn flakes with extra sugar.
They’re soggy.
My dad is outside and he opens
the door in a panic and he leans inside.
I’m in the kitchen and I can only see
his face, which looks
dour and stricken, and his hand
on the doorknob.
“You’d better come and say
goodbye to Emmy, ” he says.
“She just got
hit by a car, ”
he says.
Emmy is a mutt, some kind of ugly Aussie mix
and she is still a puppy. She has
mustard yellow spots and dark black fur. We
got her outside the supermarket one day for my
dad for Father’s Day. She traveled with us that summer,
riding on my lap from Portland to California and back.
Every morning Emmy bounds to
the bus stop and greets the waiting kids. We
don’t take the bus. Our parents drive us to
school.
She’s visiting the bus stop when a woman—
Cold
Heartless
Cruel—
Crashes her car into Emmy sending
her flying. “Who’s dog is that? ”
She says. “Find the owners, ” She says
to horrified watching children as she
speeds off.
“No! ” I scream and I push my
bowl of cornflakes sending them off the
table and onto the floor. “No, you’re joking! ”
I say.
I watch as the thick white liquid—
the ceramic shards
broken
like Emmy—

the orange flakes—
snake
across the floor and I know
he’s not.

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JUSTIN W Price

JUSTIN W Price

Portland, Oregon
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