Laughing Ghosts Poem by Maya Hanson

"You thought you knew thunder, "
these ghosts laugh in my face.

"We'll show you how much you thought you knew.

We'll show you the burning ache in your throat
when you spend too many quiet nights in a lonely house.

We'll show you all the girls with
easier smiles
braver wits
lighter baggage than you.

We'll show you all the people
you didn't look in the eye
when they would hand you an open book.

We'll show you how choking can kill
when you swallow the next few days
trying to grasp everything she never told you
with no one to hold on to.

We'll show you
flashbacks
flashbacks
flashbacks
every time you see a hint of his face.

We'll show you
long cold nights
where you can have everything you need
and still somehow fall asleep with a hole in your chest.

We'll show you the crime scene made entirely of you,
every sin you have tasted as it fell from your throat or flowed from your hands,
the backs of everyone you thought you knew
as they sprint to escape your self-destruction.

Every time you thought you couldn't be angrier,
you could twist a blade
deeper in his chest than your name ever made it
and turn your back without a second thought,
we'll hand you the knife.

We'll show you a clap
that shakes your soul
so you think it's the end."

"You thought you knew thunder, "
laughing ghosts with lunatic eyes
shriek from beneath my bedside table.
"Well, we'll show you a hurricane."