Middle Girl Poem by Rebecca Duncan

Mother runs across a field harvested of its corn. In one arm she cradles a wailing baby.

With her other hand she clutches middle girl who had no time to find her

shoes. The stubs of corn poke the soles of her feet. She stumbles, loses her footing and

mother pulls on her arm to jolt her back on her feet. “Com’on, girrly, keep up! ” Older girl has

shoes on and runs ahead of them, shouting over her shoulder, “Run, mama, run! He’s out the

house now! ”

There are ravens in the field scrounging for food just ahead of older girl. At

once, they take flight in unison batting their wings against the air, pushing and pulling skyward.

They make a great whooshing sound that escalates middle girl’s budding terror. From above,

the ravens, if they cared, would see them running across this stubbly field once tall and green

with stalks of ripening corn. Running from husband. Running from father. He pursues

them across the cornfield, cursing at them and waving a rifle in the air.

Older girl makes it to the imagined safety of the neighbor’s barn. She pauses at the

opened door to mark the other's progress. Crying out in encouragement, “Run faster, mama!

He’s a-comin’! ” Darting into the barn and up a ladder to the loft, she hides behind the hay.

“Don-choo do this, Bobby Eugene! Theez is our babies! ” She hears mother yell at husband,

father.

Middle girl stumbles again and mother nearly drops baby. “Git up girrly...com’on!

We’ns almost to the barn! ” Husband, father is gaining on them still holding his rifle in the air. “Ah

swear, Ah’ll kill ya, May! Ah’ll kill evry lass one ah yu’ns! ” Suddenly he loses his balance and

falls to the ground. The rifle goes off and mother feels the rush of the bullet as it speeds past
her head. Mother screams and begins to cry. Middle girl is too scared to cry. Mother accelerates,

nearly dragging middle girl’s sore feet along the ground.

Finally, mother, baby and middle girl are at the barn door and run inside. Summoning

some bit of strength, mother hurls middle girl ahead nearly tossing her at the ladder.

“Ya’ll crawal up there...quick! ” Middle girl grabs at a rung and pulls her body up, bleeding feet just

finding the rung below. She scrambles up the ladder not really understanding what her mother

wants her to do. Mother grabs at the ladder with her right arm as she shifts baby to her left arm

and hip. Reaching the ladder top she sets baby on the hay. “Grab onto baby! ” she shouts at

older girl. Pulling herself up onto the loft, she looks around for a vantage point to look out onto the

field. She crawls on hands and knees like baby to the window and pushes it open.

Below, she sees husband, father laying face down in the dirt, corn stubs poke his body. He is

motionless except for the rhythmic heaving of his back as he gasps for air, sobbing and

bleeding.