When I fall asleep, he takes my family
and puts them somewhere else.
I don’t know where they are, exactly.
Somewhere I can’t see. Maybe hell.
When I wake, the truth in my stomach sours.
Words orbit the roof of my mouth, a tomb
from which nothing rises. Inside, I scour
for signs of life. Nothing. Empty rooms.
And then I open the back door: underneath
the shed red eyes burn, red as the rake leaning on
the grey shed, paint peeling like shells from eggs.
This isn’t real life. This is the Devil with perfect teeth,
bounding through the yard like some terrible fawn,
that long red tail tucked tight between his legs.
“The One Where the Devil Takes my Family” is the first of four poems by Andrea Rogers to be featured every other week on The Negatives.
Andrea Rogers holds a Ph.D. in Poetry from Georgia State University. Her work appears in Odradek, The 11th Hour, and elsewhere. She and her band, Night Driving in Small Towns, have appeared in features by Rolling Stone and NPR.
