Published May 1st, 2023
by Cassandra O'Sullivan Sachar
(Bloomsberg, Pennsylvania, United States)
Dear neighbors,
I have a low-threshold startle reflex
and I shriek like a banshee
three to five times per day.
Sometimes the dog barks when I'm concentrating, or
the cat jumps over my head (he does that), or
maybe someone walked into the room
when I wasn't expecting it –
even though they live here and I should
(and he tries not to scare me).
It could also be a bat that frightened me
since I live in an old house and
we get bats. They pop out in the summer
and fly around
making my house an early
Halloween decoration.
But you know this, I think,
since you might get bats in
your old house, too, and
I bet you scream, as well.
Really, I'm fine,
I promise.
I'm just a little jumpy sometimes —
okay, all the time.
Biography
Cassandra O'Sullivan Sachar is a writer and associate English professor in Pennsylvania.
Her creative works have appeared in over twenty publications including Adelaide Literary Magazine, The Dillydoun Review, Little Old Lady Comedy,
The Pine Cone Review, Quagmire Literary Magazine, The Centifictionist, and Tales from the Moonlit Path.
She holds a Doctorate of Education with a Literacy Specialization from the University of Delaware and is working toward an MFA in Creative Writing at Wilkes University.
This poem is included in Poetry World #6, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Previously published in Angela Poetry Magazine:
Perspective
by Ksheerja Chandel
Angela Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
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