THE NURSERY RHYME

The Nursery Rhyme

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet when along came the
spider that crawled up inside her and now
my home is a web that traps a hideous spider that comes at night
into a fortress of filth and garbage reaching to the ceiling
surrounding my bed with maggots writhing in rotting food
and torn rag dolls resembling the almost-woman
I see in the mirror.
You are sickened by a house of clutter
flooded with something terribly wrong inside my head
that started long ago from something terribly wrong inside my bed
that led to mountains of damaged goods
mirroring the filth of the spider inside me.

Torture

The ones who hold their chins much higher than normal
from standing on their tiptoes so the rope didn’t break their necks.
The men who walk with a limp after their legs were broken until
they couldn’t heal anymore.
The women who can’t see and must walk with a white cane because
their eyes were filled with acid.
The children with haunted black eyes who have seen what they don’t
understand but know they will never see their mothers and fathers again.
The people whose ribs jut through their skin for years until their bodies
learn how to eat again.
The ones who are missing fingers and toes and always wear closed shoes
never sandals because the stares embarrass them.
The women whose kneecaps turn inward from kneeling on concrete floors
with a machine gun held to their heads.
The children missing limbs whose mothers were forced to watch as an axe
fell on their tiny hands and feet.
These are the ones I see quietly moving through the crowded streets
trying desperately to blend into the mosaic so no one notices them
and hurts them again. I know them because I’m as good at hiding
in plain sight as these people I see
and you don’t.

Lisa Lahey’s short stories and poems have been published in 34th Parallel Magazine, Spaceports and Spidersilk, Altered Reality Magazine, Why Vandalism? Suddenly, and Without Warning, Five on the Fifth, Ariel Chart Magazine, Vita Poetica, and Literally Stories. Her work has also been accepted by Same Faces Collection, Piker Press, Epater, Bindweed, The Pink Hydra, and Creepy Podcast.