Scary Ralph by Jude Miller

Another part of October Stories, as we draw nearer and nearer the thirty first. Jude Miller’s Scary Ralph!

Scary Ralph

By Jude Miller

I wait, patiently, sometimes, not so

I wait for someone to see me as I am

I started the fire

Watched the flames dance

Twirling beautifully, kissing the stair rail

Singing the crackling of heat on wood

The screaming from the northeast bedroom

Was music, then staccato gulps,

Beat through my soul

Like a macabre climax

I hated him

When I awoke, in the ambulance, they said that,

I had melted, my face, my arms

Skin dangling like wax from a candle

It felt like a badge

Why can’t anyone see who I am?

Before the disfiguring,

I was translucent cellophane

Now I’m a disfigured monster

“Stay away from Scary Ralph!”

“You know, they say it was intentional”

Be careful when you heat cellophane

You don’t know what it will create.

Bio

I began writing poetry as a means to help process some ugly life. Sometimes it was helpful, others, frustrating. Trying to find words doesn’t always come easy, other times it just happens. I enjoy the process of working on my ‘poetry’, I use that term loosely, as I refer to myself as the ‘reluctant’ poet, who does not conform to the structures of writing. I don’t follow with the shoulds and oughts in life, or writing. I’m from a small town in Northern Indiana and have transplanted myself to the South Central, IN area to be closer to my granddaughter. I live a quiet life with my 2 canines, and occasionally throw my words out there to be in print, or on the internet to share with others.