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Showing posts from January 27, 2016

Tonight's Poet Corner: The Immortal Headmaster

The Immortal Headmaster by Belinda Roddie At the old schoolhouse, children gather in scuttling clumps on the tile floor, scooping up clay and pinching it between their fingers, rolling it up into miniature planets to be launched into space, orbiting their own private sun. One of the teachers coughs and scratches at his large, reddened nose. Traces of white still linger on the rusty rims of his nostrils. My blazer pockets are filled with painkillers, since the bottle that had once cradled them cracked and set them free. They are cold against my knuckles. I could eat those blue gelatin capsules like candy if I wanted to - my head hurts enough for it. I suppose a schoolmaster's thoughts are supposed to squeal against the membrane of a feeble brain, to remind me that I'm still alive and in charge. We love our old schoolhouse: Its splintered doors, its greasy windows, its Gothic panes leading into Poe-esque corridors where imaginary monsters dissipate at

Today's OneWord: Monster

Everyone tried to tell me that I was a monster, but just because I looked like one didn't mean I actually was one. Still, for the sake of everyone's sanity and happiness, I remained in my bedroom until it got dark out, and only once I wrapped myself up in gauze and scarves and a worn out hoodie did I go outside, dragging my right leg behind me just a little bit, the way I always did. It was always cold out to me, regardless of the season, so I didn't mind bundling up - it was a win for me and a win for everyone else's sore eyes.