Monster Poem by Morgan Lyons

On the night she killed Ryan,

She sat in front of the mirror,

Repeating the word,

“Monster, monster.”


Ryan had always

Been by her side,

When her heart

Had been shattered in

A million pieces and cast

Aside into the whipping wind,

He collected it,

Piece by piece

And glued it back together.


She should have seen it.


The gun had bloomed

Before him

Like a rose

As he cried out

To the moon,

But she couldn’t hear.

His words wouldn’t

Penetrate her deaf ears.


His heart deep

Like the ocean

Was receding,

Steadily retreating.


Until all was still.


But the calm

Always comes

Before the storm,

Which ripped through him

Like New Orleans,

And Louisiana wept.


He swallowed his pride

With a bullet

And she never knew why

But, God she should have.


And the monster

In the mirror

Was ugly,

Her fangs dripped

With blood

Her murdering hands

Couldn’t wash away

His DNA.

The foul taste

Of helplessness

Lingered

On her tongue

Her heavy eyes

Unmasked the lies

She told herself.


The word “Emily”

Was written across

His body,

But she had been

Too blind

To see,

So he wrote it

On paper.


“Dear Emily,

I love you,

Goodbye.”

And laid it

On the desk

Which he painted red

A heartbeat later.


And the monster

In the mirror

Howled like a dog

To the moon

Ryan had once

Cried to.