One Secret Thing
Live in this
they said
as they placed me
neatly onto the
pink rose-budded bedspread
in the room with white
and more white
so I would be well and
release festering thoughts
that wake me in the night
sweating thick to the point of oil
shaking to some madness of hot breath
on my neck
cold hands around me
But that was one night
one time
long ago in a life
not mine but the she before I
The she that was
lovely as a lilly! they said
Death is a long haul when you wait for it
you slowly
very slowly
creep into it while no one pays attention
Shredding the malaise into parts to contain each day
it’s the rotting from the inside out
whispers just under the skin
The Screwtape demon
forming a root in the rose-budded cell
with all the girlie stuff
The beckoning is cunning
over the edge of the bedspread
it waits
I somehow love it
yet I can’t quite make out
what it is
Only death is certain
***
Donna Dallas studied Creative Writing and Philosophy at NYU. She meandered about before she became a successful business woman, married and mothered 2 beautiful children. Over The years, she has written down events from scribbles to journals. She has documented lives growing up poor, witnessing drugs, prostitution, overdoses and death. She has bundled stories of lives that fell apart in front of her or with her. Donna has been published Mud Fish, Nocturnal Lyric, The Café Review, The New York Quarterly and was lucky enough to study under William Packard back in the day. She took a slight hiatus and can most recently be found in 34th Parallel, Vending Machine Press, Anti-Heroin Chic and The Opiate Magazine.
SICK LIT MAGAZINE 
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