Reclining Nude..............................John Murray

After I Hit My Sister

free verse by Tut Linen

Whoosh went the brush and snapped at my ass with a smack.

I hated that hairbrush— medium width, light brown, strong. It hid away in the depths of his room. I never saw it used, but I felt it. I heard it.

“But she hit me frst.” I hated that look of disappointment, but it was his duty.

He flled the chair we kneeled around every night to read stories. Our eyes locked on him, our minds on his words.

Te redness faded as the pillow absorbed my screams and tears. I crept downstairs. Duck gumbo from the hunt. He smiled from the head of the table— his gray hair parted softly— a reminder of the brown brush.

Later that night he sat in my chair, and I in his lap. With the Lord’s Prayer and a hug, my dad said, “Goodnight.”

Written under the mentorship of David Huddle

Woodberry Forest School 65