Crank (Crank 1)

and never could again. I will

remember them forever:

If I’d have known

you’d just lay there,

I wouldn’t have bothered.

Have You Ever

had so much to say

that your mouth closed up tight,

struggling to harness the nuclear force

coalescing within your words?

Have you ever

had so many thoughts

churning inside that you didn’t

dare let them escape,

in case they blew you wide open?

Have you ever

been so angry that you

couldn’t look in the mirror

for fear of finding the face of evil

glaring back at you?

I stared at Brendan,

trying to find some words—

any words—to express

the terror of those minutes,

the horror of his violation,

the humiliation at his benediction.

But my mouth closed up tight

around the nuclear force

building inside,

thought after thought churning,