Unrequited Rage

by Laksmi Lucky Lumpkin


It's not mine, their toxic
screams over the phone.

But I picked it up,
his pain and hate

and carried it with me all day. 
I stewed in someone else’s anger,

welcomed it into my psyche,
then complained it was all their fault.

His hurt jumped onto my back,
and rode me all over town like a mindless fool.


* * * * *

Laksmi Lucky Lumpkin is a budding poet under the tutelage of the renowned poet Stellasue Lee. She practices interior design in her hometown of Knoxville, TN. She writes poetry weekly and has a large garden that helps ground her. Her love of writing came about seven years ago when she started a children's fiction book as advised by her daughter after telling her bedtime stories.