Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Portrait of the Serial Killer as a Young Man

3 Word Wednesday has moved to a new home and offers the following: Clumsy. Fire. Overlooked.

they called him clumsy
overlooked dead animals
fires and bedwetting

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

He was always such a nice boy.

Rose

xo

Richard Wells said...

and he went on to... something really awful.

Tiel Aisha Ansari said...

This might be turning into an evolving multi-author story... feel free to chime in, readers.

TC said...

I think Rose and Rwells stole my comments... I felt like this was really the beginning of something more...

His mother would always think if only she'd stopped her husband from beating him, maybe he would have been normal.

Linda Jacobs said...

Oh, these few words conjure up so many images! Love this conciseness!

Tumblewords: said...

I hardly knew him. :)

Edo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Edo said...

How could they not have known, I heard them ask,
Their child was an embodiment of sin?
How could they never once see through that mask
In all those years, to glimpse what lay within?

"How could they not, indeed?" I think out loud.
"The signs were there, and waiting to be read.
"Perhaps it was denial... maybe not."
I hush, and let the thoughts go through my head.
Two Shoah survivors whose only son
Claimed families of victims to his name
For each new month that he stayed on the run -
What man could face that magnitude of shame?
And so I picked their bodies off the floor,
Threw them in the furnace and shut the door.

Tiel Aisha Ansari said...

Damn, Edo. Is that original? If so would you post it on one of your blogs? or can I repost it here?

Anonymous said...

It's amazing how much you say in how few words. I am impressed.

Truefaith1963 said...

Thats so sad!
Great piece.

Edo said...

It is original, in fact, and I probably will get around to posting it on my main blog tonight.

Feel free to repost it if you want.

susan said...

Brutally succinct. As someone who has known abused children, there was a very somber read.

little wing writer said...

wow...yeah, what susan sed....