A Little Girl Trying to Talk to God While Being Distracted by Denial

Choya Randolph

The sky is falling
It left the stars behind like daddy did
As if each star were an abandoned child
Burning with anger
Until it explodes

I can hear the pieces hit the ground
Or were they a fist to a mother’s face?
No
It must’ve been the sky
Because the moon looked bigger
As if it were a peephole to heaven
The sun less yellow
And more orange
As if the sky were bleeding
And the blood blended with sunshine
To fool all living creatures that everything is okay
But I still hear them
I think

Last week
The sky hurt Mommy
A big piece
Fell from its height
And gave her an eye
That matched the night
No one said anything about it
Not even stepdaddy
Who usually yelled
Like burning stars
But I knew the truth

Yesterday
For the 6th time this week
I waited outside
Wondering what piece would fall
So I could pick it up
And throw it back to its home
Maybe if I returned a fragment
It wouldn’t hurt anyone
Maybe a child wouldn’t explode
Maybe Our Father which art in heaven
Would catch it
And heal mommy’s face
And bring a star’s daddy back
And make sure step daddy’s voice is as quiet as a mother’s secrets

I waited but didn’t see anything fall
I had to go home for dinner
Stepdaddy was home
Another piece of sky must’ve hit mommy
An abandoned child shone less bright
As if not angry
But putting pieces together

I know the sky is falling
I just can’t see the fallen pieces
I couldn’t find the peace that hit mommy
Maybe it didn’t hit mommy
Perhaps the sky isn’t falling
But everyone moving closer
To God:

Choya Randolph is an adjunct professor at Adelphi University with a B.A. in Mass Communications and M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Her work has been published in Rigorous Magazine, midnight & indigo, Her Campus, The Crow’s Nest, NNB News and elsewhere. She is a proud Floridian who lives happily on Long Island in New York.

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