Krys Melton is a senior at Grandview University in Des Moines, Iowa, where she is majoring in Secondary Education and English. “Instinctive Response” was inspired by her work as a camp counselor at Easter Seals’ Camp Sunnyside. Krys says she thoroughly enjoys her job because she works with wonderful counselors and incredible campers. In addition to writing poetry, Krys likes to take her Great Dane puppy, Mason, out for walks.
Instinctive Response
Soft, small, fluffy cotton ball
starts it all,
torn and ripped apart.
Floating down through the air
his white comfort dissipates.
Facial features
distort and disfigure.
Shadows of Hades
on a cherub’s face.
Knees knock loudly
against his forehead,
followed by concrete,
plastic, and wood.
Canines chomp down
on his arm and knee.
For a moment he’s still,
putting out his hand.
I offer mine, not knowing that
teeth will make contact.
Force themselves through
layers of epidermis.
Wounded, I fall
down my tunnel of
assumptions and judgments.
To be rocked back
with his baby blues
locked on mine.
I can see him in there
locked and tied down
by serpentine vines of circumstance.
No way to soothe his pain,
he rocks back and forth.
Shaking up the terror within.
All I can do is sit and wait,
while he overflows down
and around into himself.
