Flexion quotes- LAHOF

The quiet

one

wife who

wouldn’t say boo

twenty years

of near invisibility

swallow and close

his eyes instead of shouting at her

doggedly sucking air

in and panting it out

locked strongbox

inside had burst open

everything rippling

free and exorcised

glutton

for work

temper

like a rabid dog

the man can’t

feel a thing

liked his privacy

to the point of glowering hostile secrecy

minimising all his

movements for years, barely turning his head to her when she speaks

immovable

as a mountain

tormented by something

as incomprehensible and enraging as kindness

we’re putting

this all behind us

a black deadweight

at their backs… beasts of burden

odd kind

of glamour

luxury of eating

the first meal someone else has cooked for her in years

holiday

..

must be like drowning

just going under, slowly losing oxygen, into blackness

scowling with a kind

of ferocious, vindictive resolve

knocks her

hand away, as she goes to wipe the gravy off his chin

can still find a

way to smack her out of the way

growling

like an animal

ordering her

around and snapping at her

badgering her and

critising her and depending on her for everything

hating him so

much she can’t trust herself to open her mouth

choking rage

burns like a grassfire, like gasoline

he’s as scared

and frail as an old man

one mishap away

from a nursing home

she feels a

surge of courage

take a good

look and get on the phone

flex the muscles

and keep the memory of liber movement alive in the body to stop… tightening and atrophying

crying soundlessly

eyes screwed shut and face contorted like a mask

his mouth

is a black hole of terror

gently flexes

both their elbows together. She places his hand wordlessly, determinedly, over his heart, and holds it there.