Day 5 Prompt: The First (Blank)
Form: Free Verse
The First Time I Saw a Spirit
It was past my bedtime
I was six years old
My father
sitting at the table
Illuminated by the light above
His shoulders sloped down
He did not know I was there
I walked to his left
that is when I saw my first spirit
A demon, a wisp, floating
above the ice cubes bobbing
in caramel colored liquid
My father sipped the spirit
down with the liquid
As the glass hit the table a different
spirit would materialize
I must have let out a breath
because my father turned toward me
But it was the spirit speaking
his words dragged out of his mouth
slow and trembly
“What are you doing up?”
His hand heavy on my head
I stepped back,
afraid of the spirit
swimming in his eyes
“Had to use the bathroom”
My father smiled
I did not recognize it
There were too many teeth
He sipped the second spirit
a third appeared
I stumble
as the wisp, the demon,
smiled
at me
like my father
“Goodnight” I said
And hear a grumble from the figure
At the table
As he sipped again
and again
and again.
I did not sleep well for years
Until I finally gave into the spirits
beckoning
But I have no son to bother me
It is just me
Ice
Caramel liquid
And a little spirit floating above my glass.
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