rusted train tracks
over abandoned prairie
will-o'-the-wisps
beckon us into the light
until we become blind
they wondered
if she was a changeling
this fey child
with alabaster skin
and raven-feather hair
we seek refuge
under a railway trestle
thunderstruck
by flamenco dancers
with hailstone castanets
rogue wildfire
a matchstick forest
smouldering
in the burn ward
the screams of a child
the boy
slipped off his medal
placing it gently
around the neck
of his grandfather
Prairie Quills
they made
my sister give me
her new doll
every time I wheezed
between shots of adrenaline
each morning
we vomited our porridge
on the bus ride
over roller coaster hills
to a one-roomed school
the slop pail
always needed emptying
that winter
we found three kittens
frozen on the windowsill
we choked
on the acrid smell
of singed feathers
never forgetting
how lifeblood drips away
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