I Spilled My Corn Flakes: Poem

(note, this poem is formatted differently on hubpages than it is in the book is appears in)

Do you like this poem?

Then check out my poetry book,Digging to China, released by Sweatshoppe Publications. This poem is in it, along with fifty others. Signed copies are available throughSweatshoppe Publications. It's also available on Barnes and Noble andAmazon.com.

By

Justin W. Price

It’s October and I’m

getting ready for school with my brother.

I’m in footie pajamas

eating corn flakes with extra sugar.

My dad is outside and he opens

the door in a panic and leans

inside.

From the kitchen I can only see

his face, which looks

dour and stricken, and his hand

on the doorknob.

“You’d better come and say

goodbye to Emmy,” he says.

“She just got hit

by a car,”

he says.

Emmy is a mutt, some kind of ugly Aussie mix

and is still a puppy. She has

mustard yellow spots and dark black fur. We

got her outside the supermarket one day for my dad

for Father’s Day. She

travelled with us that summer,

riding on my lap from Portland to California

and back.

Every morning Emmy bounds

to the bus stop and greets

the waiting kids. (We

don’t take the bus. Our parents drive us to school.)

She’s visiting the bus stop when a woman—

Cold

Heartless

Cruel—

Crashes her car into Emmy sending

her flying. “Who’s dog is that?”

She says. “Find the owners,” She says

to horrified watching children as she

speeds off.

“No!” I push my

bowl of cornflakes sending them off the table

and onto the floor.

“No, you’re joking!”

I say.

I watch as the thick white liquid—

the ceramic shards

the orange flakes—

snake

across the floor and I know

he’s not.

all rights reserved. Copyright Justin W. Price October 2011. Copyright renewed by Justin W. Price and Sweatshoppe Publications Feb. 2013.

Thanks for Reading.

A FREELANCE WRITER, HONORS STUDENT AND GOVER PRIZE FINALIST, JUSTIN W. PRICE (AKA, PDXKARAOKEGUY)IS A POET, SHORT STORY, BIOGRAPHY AND HUMOR WRITER. HIS POETRY COLLECTION, DIGGING TO CHINA, WAS RELEASED FEBRUARY 2ND, 2013 BY SWEATSHOPPE PUBLICATIONS AND IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM, BARNES AND NOBLE AND THROUGH YOUR LOCAL BOOKSELLER.

HIS WORK WILL ALSO BE FEATURED IN BEST NEW FICTION (2014 EDITION), AND HAS APPEARED PREVIOUSLY IN THE RUSTY NAIL, EFICTION, THE CRISIS CHRONICLES, THE HELLROARING REVIEW, BURNINGWORD, THE WHISTLING FIRE, SEE SPOT RUN ANDTHE BELLWETHER REVIEW.

HE WORKS AS A FREELANCE WRITER, EDITOR, AND GHOSTWRITER, AND IS WORKING TOWARDS HIS PH.D. HE LIVES IN A SUBURB OF PORTLAND, OREGON WITH HIS WIFE, ANDREA, THEIR LABRADOODLE, BELLA, SCHNOODLE, SAUVEE AND BLACK MOOR GOLDFISH, HOWARD WOLOWITZ.

View the original format, here.