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Ask Me Again
by Alexis Carter
Runestone, volume 7
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“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”
You ask me this, but your eyes do not meet my own
You ask it with condescension dripping from your tone
Arrogance contorting your lips into something mocking a smile
I do not tell you of how I ignited upon re-entry
I do not speak of the way feathers smell when they burn
I do not mention how gravity damned my soul
“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”
You ask it like you already know
Ego overshadowing any answer I might give
Gaze scraping, raking against my skin
My halo turned to liquid gold that burned as I fell too fast, too hard, too soon
The impact crater, fifty miles wide, littered with my bones
I dragged myself out, bloody and broken
“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”
You dare to ask me how I remade myself without troubling yourself with my name
Pride must prop you up on that barstool because your spine slithered off long ago
You ask me what I’ve been through like it’s an inside joke, punchline unknown
I gathered the shards of me that escaped the wreckage
Stitched those pieces together with an unflinching will
I learned how to walk, though I still remember how it felt to fly
I became a person all on my own
Yet, I tell you none of this because you don’t deserve to know
Alexis Carter
University of Arkansas
Alexis Carter is a junior at the University of Arkansas and is pursuing a degree in Computer Science. She wants to create, in every sense of the word and as much as possible, but writing has always been her home. Her work has also appeared in her college’s literary magazine, The Diamond Line.