busyThis poem came out of the October 4, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from 
ariestess. It has been sponsored by rix_scaedu. You can read more about the Monster House series on the Serial Poetry page.
Once when I was playing in the yard
with the little old lady ghost watching me,
the minister and his wife walked by.
"Should you be out here alone, sweetie?"
the minister said to me.
I glanced back at the porch
where the little old lady ghost
sat on the porch swing, swaying slowly.
"I'm not," I said.
"Look, dear," said his wife,
"the little blind girl
has a guardian angel."
So they went away
without making any more of a fuss,
leaving me to my game
and the little old lady ghost --
who hasn't any wings! --
rocking on the porch swing.
Honestly.
Sighted people
see the strangest things.
April 17 2012, 04:32:35 UTC 9 years ago
Thank you!
April 17 2012, 05:03:59 UTC 9 years ago
April 17 2012, 07:27:55 UTC 9 years ago
Thoughts
April 17 2012, 07:59:21 UTC 9 years ago
Perhaps so. Perception and interpretation are two different things.
>> (And they both pay attention to the safety of small children who happen to be around them.) <<
That's one of the subtle complexities that show up in my writing. Sometimes sympathetic characters do pesky things; sometimes antagonists do something responsible. Just because people see the world differently doesn't necessarily make them all bad.
Re: Thoughts
April 18 2012, 01:34:00 UTC 9 years ago
I don't recall -- have we seen the minister and his wife before? Or are we supposed to assume they're potentially antagonistic because they're mainstream religious?
Re: Thoughts
April 18 2012, 03:09:24 UTC 9 years ago
No and no, in my experience; but most people expect those answers to be yes, so that colors their reactions.
>>I don't recall -- have we seen the minister and his wife before?<<
I don't think so.
>> Or are we supposed to assume they're potentially antagonistic because they're mainstream religious? <<
It's kind of a combination of them being slightly nosy, less than perfectly observant, conventionally religious, and mostly mainstream. They're neither villains nor allies, but the kind of ordinary people who will first try to explain away the extraordinary in terms that make sense to them personally, and if that fails, probably flip out over it because their worldview isn't very flexible.