Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Bitter Hands



So, here's another one. The above picture is mine, as are the following words. I call these short stories, but that's not really what they are. I was working on a project once which was a collection of ranting journals. Nothing ever came of it, so I'll just post them on my blog for a while. Here's Bitter Hands.

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I’m locking my door and shutting you out. The last thing I need is another person to spread my wounds wide and see how much I can bleed, or twist my insides until my guts squeeze my heart to burst. I won’t let you gnaw upon my suffering or allow your triangle-shaped words to strip away the soft flesh of my defenses.

Seriously, we have politicians for that.

You push me, pull me, toss my grinning nightmares onto the stage to perform for your own amusement. I’m so tired of you grabbing my sanity by the hair and driving it to the ground with your unforgiving apathy.

These bitter hands are washing themselves of you, but no soap seems to clear away the bile between my fingers. Suck it up. Move on. Split my self-righteousness in half and give it out to the poor. The world could use more complacency, and I’m sick of trying to keep a hold of my own.

Probably because I don’t deserve it, anyway.

So sit back and stretch out your wings to soak in all the heat radiating off my words. Take to the sky with my angry exhales, and tumble back to earth. You’ve dug yourself a hole to land in, and I’ll happily etch your tombstone.

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The end. Let me know what you think, please. :-)

16 comments:

Tiffany Neal said...

Um, so, I was reading it, trying to find my favorite part, but there were too many.

When you get published - can you say you know me?? :)

Seriously.

And that picture was totally creepy/cool/(I don't have a third word coming, but 3 slashes are better than 2)

Keep posting this stuff. I love it.

Christi Goddard said...

lol. 'When I get published' huh? That's sweet of you to say. Unfortunately, my book is not like these shorts. It's a deep and sometimes humorous journey of a young man into redemption. Only there's... yanno... literally monsters and time travel and scary humans.

Anonymous said...

have you considered submitting some of your short stories to lit mags? you know, boost up the end of your query with some publications?

Shelley Sly said...

This was dark, in the cool sense of dark. Even without knowing much about the situation, I was rooting for the narrator. You write so well, Christi!

I'd have to say that my favorite line is "grabbing my sanity by the hair" -- what an image.

Christi Goddard said...

aspiring: yes, I've sent in three to Eclectica magazine, but I've not heard back from them. If they pass me up, I'll post those three here, too. It'd be nice to have publishing credits to add to my query letter (other than my high school literary magazine ;-) )

Shelley: I'm really glad you liked it. :-) You guys are making me blush.

Unknown said...

Whoa, fantastic writing! So full of raw, venomous emotion. The last line was my favorite -- genius way to end this short!

I found you by way of Anne's blog (Piedmont Writer). I look forward to reading more from you!

Roxy said...

"These bitter hands are washing themselves of you.." I love the title and this line. Great intensity, Christi. I like how you mix a flash of humor with anguish. Real and gutsy. Thanks for posting it.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

I love the fluency and voice in this piece. My favorite lines were:

"These bitter hands are washing themselves of you, but no soap seems to clear away the bile between my fingers. Suck it up. Move on. Split my self-righteousness in half and give it out to the poor."

Wonderful! :-)

Kristi said...

this last line was my favorite:
You’ve dug yourself a hole to land in, and I’ll happily etch your tombstone.

I just stumbled upon your blog and have to say...I love your "about me". I too suck at Wii gold but love the frisbee dog!

JE said...

Picking a fav line would be impossible. Once again you have channeled the inner part of turmoil and written it down on paper in a wonderful and intriquing way.

Christi, you truly have a gift. Please don't ever forget that.

Christi Goddard said...

Nicole: Thank you very much. I'm glad you found me.

Roxy: I'm glad you saw the humor. Most people just think I'm weird.

Kristi: I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for following me. I've only got 5 billion to go to assure world domination.

Shannon: Thankya kindly. :-)

Justine: I'll stop forgetting that when the rejection letters stop coming. :-)

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