A Poem by Laura Dennis

Thirteen

The Man Who Did Not Smile
touched me
where I was told
no one was supposed to

Death whispered my name
as the blood dripped back into my arm
he slipped away

Curled up in the hospital bed
teddy bear clutched tight
we listened to nighttime hospital noises

After there will be silence
this will not be discussed
I am 13 but I feel so old

Laura Dennis has been published in the anthologies Petals in the Pan from Kind of a Hurricane Press, Home and Away from House of Blue Skies and Love Notes from Vagabond Press.  She also has two self-published chapbooks entitled Wheels on the Bus and The Bookshelf.  She has been published in a number of online magazines.  She is one of the 2014 winners of Friends and the University Hospitals poetry contest and is a part of the Sidewalk Poetry  in Callingwood Park, both in her home of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.