Holding Out for an Anti-Hero

By Shelli Cornelison

First you haunted my peripheral vision and I only knew you in silhouette. Then I learned to expand my view, taught my eyes to track quicker, to open wider until I captured you fully. Now I can’t shut them tightly enough to black out that mistake.

They say seeing is believing. I rolled out a red carpet of faith for your performative pain, your rehearsed affection, and your unparalleled devotion. My vision gets clearer with every flashback.

You always possessed the clarity to see right through me, straight to my weakest points. X-ray vision: the perfect superpower for a villain.

“Some days I do it to avoid the laundry, but mostly I write because I am fascinated by the way a phrase becomes a sentence becomes a voice becomes a story.” – the writer