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Just Taking Out the Trash

Published by CLS Sandoval at February 3, 2024
Categories
  • Blog
  • Poetry
Tags
  • anger
  • CLS Sandoval
  • faith
  • nana
  • regret
  • trash
park bench and leaves

Image created onCanva

Nana was just taking out the trash
I was angry about so many other things
I was holding the holy book didn’t belong to our religion
She said she just wanted to chat with the missionaries

I was angry about so many other things
Nana assured me that her faith was as strong as ever
She said she just wanted to chat with the missionaries
I was yelling louder than I ever should have yelled at her

Nana assured me that her faith was as strong as ever
I cried out, knowing I was attacking the wrong person
I was yelling louder than I ever should have yelled at her
So many moments of regret that I could never take back

I cried out, knowing I was attacking the wrong person
On the bus in middle school, I wished a near-death experience on Kelly
So many moments of regret that I could never take back
I thought a near-death experience would help her find the truth

On the bus in middle school, I wished a near-death experience on Kelly
I always thought that the world was so simple and objective
I thought a near-death experience would help her find the truth
Nana was just taking out the trash


Looking for more to read? Check these out from the MockingOwl contributors and authors.

  • It Was Supposed to Be About Being Well-Loved
  • Faith and Dandelion Seeds
  • A Dream
CLS Sandoval
+ postsBio

CLS Sandoval, PhD (she/her) is a pushcart nominated writer and communication professor with accolades in film, academia, and creative writing who speaks, signs, acts, publishes, sings, performs, writes, paints, teaches and rarely relaxes. She’s a flash fiction and poetry editor for Dark Onus Lit. She has presented over 50 times at communication conferences, published 15 academic articles, two academic books, three full-length literary collections, three chapbooks, as well as flash and poetry pieces in several literary journals, recently including Opiate Magazine, The Journal of Magical Wonder, and A Moon of One’s Own. She is raising her daughter and dog with her husband in Alhambra, CA.

Find more on CLS’s Facebook or Instagram.

  • CLS Sandoval
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    Tiffany Takes Flight
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    When I Met Your Birth Mother
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    The Morning the Nanny Was Late

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