“angry gods”

by Lisa Molina

For so long, 

I believed 

I somehow

angered the gods.

Otherwise, why would Zeus

thrust his shocking bolts

of blinding light, followed

by his inevitable bellowing

growl, or shocking shouts 

of fury?

Terrifying vibrations of 

the imminent unknown 

buzzed through the

gray matter of my

electrified brain

on/and/on/and/on/and/on/until

the earthquake from 

within my unstable 

core finally shattered 

open, dispersing 

shards of inner

stained glass as the

orange/yellow/blue/indigo/violet/

violent/red/bloody

explosion tore and 

ripped me apart from 

within,

with such

force and

magnitude

that 

Zeus himself

ceased

to

exist.

I never angered the gods.

Lisa Molina is a writer/educator in Austin, Texas. She has three chapbooks forthcoming in 2022, and her words can be found in numerous publications, including Bright Flash Literary Journal, Beyond Words Magazine, Sparked Literary Magazine, Neologism Poetry Journal, and The Ekphrastic Review. Molina enjoys writing, singing, playing the piano, and spending time with her family. She now works with high school students with special needs, and loves teaching them the joys of reading and writing.