I hear you there
grim worry thought
scritch-scratching at the door
of the closet
in the back of my head.
I keep you locked there
caged and deadbolted
-         as one would
the fiercest predator
or harrowing demon.
 
yet you are
 omnipresent
more clever by half
than my assiduous
preparations.
susurration incessant
-         besieges me
appeals to my belief
in self as logician
tempts me to tiptoe
closer, closer
 
what if?
you murmur
I spring to high alert
my bated breath
now near
-         hyperventilation.
I jump on your
bandwagon
/bullet train/
and we are hurtling
 
one hundred miles an hour
on a track laid
with hideous possibilities
conducted by wild
assumptions.
 
we slam to a halt
dazed and delirious
at our arrival
to the last Siberian
gulag.
replete with attendant
-         horrors
I shiver in wide-eyed
consternation.
 
yet you, dear
worry thought,
smirk smug
self-satisfaction.
success!
ever and again
you propel
me here

Photo by shahin khalaji on Unsplash

Marcia J. Weber dreamt of becoming a writer as a child. That dream was tabled as she pursued a career, family life and motherhood. In the midst of a life changing squall, writing became her life raft. She has been published in The Poetic Bond VII and VIII, Orion Magazine, Writings from Sudden Denouement Literary Collective, We Will Not Be Silenced, As The World Burns, Darker Objects, and electronically on Spillwords.  She writes as Aurora Phoenix at Arisen from the Conflagraton.