Tina Marie

don’t mock her.

Sometimes the world doesn’t whisper—

it hollers.

You hear it first—

rattlesnake rattle—

right on you—

like somethin’ in the dark

that strikes—

“Don’t mock me…”

“Don’t mock me…”

“DON’T… MOCK… ME!!!”

And just like that—

it ain’t a cat stuck in a trap.

It’s a person—

somewhere in the dark—

fussin’ and hollerin’—

like the world done turned on ’em.

It hits—

not hangs—

like somethin’ got in you—

brain scrambled—

I’m runnin’—

get inside—

what the hell was that?

and even after—

something still lurks—

unnatural.