henwen

It is the day she discovers she has ears but no mouth. She realizes that she said nothing but in her imagination, the words between her ears never escaped. It is the day she discovers she cried every tear allotted to her for this lifetime. She thinks of her brother trapped, a life-long night terror, imagines fish nibbling ashen remains, her father in the lakebed, her father as a spiral, her family as an old treehouse on fire, blasted by lightning. She feels a hysteria build in her brain, the swarm of wasps rage. The eroded ridges of her cheeks never fill. Her eyes don't even shine, two desert oases forgotten by the rain. The w