Where the Truth Lies, v2

A revision of the one that came before, helped most wonderfully by a poet friend

the caller said he was a

coroner

for the state

from the capitol city

I, on the other hand

stopped breathing

I had no will to hear

but he spoke again

who was I and had I

ever been married to

this man "Yes, once.

Why do you ask?"

as if it wasn't obvious

he was the coroner

..

and then the coroner

said his social worker

found him dead in his

bed cold on the floor his

room mate pulled over

driving his car and said

it was a gift last night

suspicious damning

but circumstantial

..

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I

must ask - I need your

reply - did your former

husband - if he ever slept

with the blanket over his

head?" and I saw him with

my inner-eye in years long

gone pulling our blanket

over his head

twice filled with

unexplained dread

like stopping breathing

when I had no will to

"Yes he did" I said

"he did when he was scared"

..

And the coroner replied,

"Okay. We see no foul play

just his heart stopped on

its own his room mate can

go free thank you for speaking

to me. Social services

will take care of the rest."

and as he hung up I

held on, wanting to say

more our daughter his heart

and CPR or scared maybe by

the room mate

who took his car

..

there were the memorial songs

all the words of his family and

I learned I still care the scar

opens and I still wonder

why was he alone without

a friend for dying just his

blanket his comfort then

everything stopped

which makes me shake at night

and pull the blanket over my

head afraid in bed and

is it possible my "yes"

let a murderer go?

Author's Note

Let me know what you think of this revised work, please.
Any constructive comments are welcome.
Thanks for reading!

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this is like Rod Sterling meets Emily Dickinson's " I Heard a fly buzz when I died"---
such interesting dialogue...seems the speaker is almost carrying on the conversation with herself.
Was leaving him what killed him...am I the murderer...or did he murder himself.
and the roommate to me, is almost an entity who is not real but represents the heart she left with him when she moved out...
well, crazy me...but I have some imagination...and really enjoyed this read.
j.

[LJ]

your first sentence is a winner! haha - you made both of us very happy by just mentioning those writers in the same "this is like..." breath! and all your conjectures about who is who and what is represented is always welcome. you're not 'crazy' because you have imagination (or any other 'thing'). so glad you like this piece. hope to see what you're doing soon, but now my old laptop seems to be giving up the ghost. argh