The Marbled Sigh

Classic Movie Night at the Local Theater

They played this classic
               on the big screen –
An old slasher, first
               in the franchise,
And my son clung
             to my wife and my
            daughter clung to me,
And I swear
              to you that I jumped
              before she did
             every time the camera
             misdirected
with its shaky frame away from
the killer before the knife
             in the neck or axe
             in the head.
But that’s not what this is about.
It’s about how some things are impossible to improve.

Everything that’s come since? There’s only
so many ways to bend the plot,
             kill the girl,
             reveal the masked figure.
            Only so many ways for things to splatter.
The masters know
              what’s out of the frame that matters.
              This is why on the walk home,
               I kept my eyes on our children
Wondering about
              what I couldn’t see,
Wondering if everything would be alright.

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Christopher Barry‘s most recent work has appeared or will appear in Moss Puppy, Sardine Can Collective, One Art, Grub Street, and Northeast Coast. He lives in New Hampshire. Follow him on Instagram: @mrbarrywrites.