‘Twas Not The Angel On My Shoulder

By Mahjazee Ruiz & Jaanelle Yee

A riddle in the form of a poem and an answer in the form of flash fiction.

Riddle:
a bond never broken
to whom we love
all a small token
angels above
to guide me
in ways
to know
im not alone
to sing me a song
to thicken my back bone
and once they did sing
a song to me
a sweet little thing
to calm and free

Answer:
2:46 am
Lying in bed
Thinking of my ex
Contemplate texting my ex
Finger hovered over send button

Cold breath on my ear
A voice whispers “No”
I jolt up in bed
WTF
…

Thank you, friendly ghost?

Process

The inspiration for this piece came from the idea of creating a collection of retrospective poetry in the form of riddles and answers, with poems written by MJ through ages 13 through 16. As a current 17-year-old, MJ is writing flash fiction pieces to accompany her old poems. This has been an exercise in looking back and reflecting on emotions and life decisions that seemed so right at the time, but actually were… immature, to say the least. With a sense of humor and a bit of trolling, Jaanelle and MJ are in the process of putting a book of poetry together. This is a sneak peek at one of the pieces.