[dverse] October 20 - What the Child Cannot Unhear

Written for dverse's 20th October prompt, A haunting. We can choose one of three paintings: Edvard Munch’s The Dead Mother, Svetlana Telets’ Rain Woman, or Juan Luna’s Portrait of a Lady. I leaned toward Munch’s The Dead Mother.

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What the Child Cannot Unhear

The child covers both ears.

The sound slips between the fingers

and burrows into the palms.

The hands grow heavier.

The elbows bend backwards.

Two small doors

seal over the skull.

But the noise has already entered.

It rattles inside the wrists,

a little house

with every window lit.

The mother lies still.

The blanket remembers breathing.

The child presses harder.

The ears disappear.

The hands keep listening.

~ Oizys.