1.
In Chamberlain (near Lewiston, in Maine),
Scratched upon a desk with hateful spite,
More cruelty toward her, yet again;
Just another day for Carrie White.
Both school and home are places of abuse --
The wretched girl can't seem to catch a break.
It's not her fault she's awkward and abstruce,
But even Momma says she's a mistake:
A child of marital rape, her Momma claims,
And by a filthy demon thus possessed;
But which of them should burn in Satan's flames--
Poor mother, or the daughter she's oppressed?
Is Carrie poisoned by some kind of hex,
Or is it more a muscle she can flex?
---
2.
The incident that drives her o'er the edge --
Despite her praying hour after hour --
Has her bawling, sprawled in crimson dredge,
Terrified and screaming in the shower.
For Carrie, there will be no sweet sixteen
(A crucial time for every teenage girl);
Her very womanhood an awful scene,
As grunting, oinking swine torment the pearl.
Frightened and confused, her hair unkempt,
A humiliated Carrie heads for home,
But Momma offers nothing but contempt,
Backhanding her with King James' holy tome.
Deafened by her mother's pious bark,
Carrie weeps in silence from the dark.
---
3.
In secret, Carrie's powers start to bloom:
Her mind moves things, and hear others' thoughts;
A psychic gift acquired in the womb --
But one that has poor Momma tied in knots.
Meanwhile Carrie's classmate, Susan Snell,
Offers Carrie something of a balm:
To help the poor girl come out of her shell,
She'll have her boyfriend take her to the prom.
Overjoyed! A date, with Tommy Ross,
Her secret crush -- the cutest boy in school!
Of course, she knew she'd make her mother cross,
But Carrie's power'd trump her in a duel.
While dreams of normalcy dance in her head,
She stitches up a dress of velvet red.
---
4.
How grand her first date feels as prom begins,
Welcomed by her peers and Tommy's friends;
She feels absolved of all her many sins,
And hopes the perfect evening never ends.
Behind the scenes, disgruntled students plot
To ruin Carrie's life once and for all --
A perfect prank to leave her badly fraught:
Blood-filled buckets poised, prepared to fall.
The crucial moment comes, where up on stage
The two are crowned unlikely King and Queen;
To thunderous applause too loud to gage,
The buckets fall, too late to contravene.
As Tommy falls unconcious to the floor,
Carrie 'flexes' hard, and thinks, 'No more.'
---
5.
First, the doors - she'll lock them from outside,
Electrocute them all, and watch them die.
As frantic students run and try to hide,
She kills them all without a tear to cry.
The fire takes the school and all within
(She watches as it tears the whole thing down),
So many souls, devoured in the din --
Unstoppable, she ravages the town.
Gas pipes explode, with hydrants melted shut,
Power cables hiss like deadly snakes;
All the will of one abandoned mutt,
Screaming as her fury boils and quakes.
Surrounded by her rage and steeped in trauma,
Carrie returns home to face her Momma.
---
6.
'Wild-eyed, filthy with the stench of death,
And dirty womanhood -- how very foul!
Possessed I say! Befouled by demon's breath --
She must be cleansed," says Momma, with a growl.
She grabs the kitchen knife from out its drawer,
Rushes at her daughter, pumped with zeal --
Carrie screams and cries, to Momma's balk,
Until her shoulder takes the length of steel.
"No," comes Carrie's whisper, small and weak,
"Attacking me again would not be smart."
Momma rushes in a fit of pique,
But Carrie pushes hard, and stops her heart.
She leaves her Momma's body on the floor,
And walks away, a prisoner nevermore.
---
© Jackson Cambridge, 2015
The novel "Carrie" is © Stephen King, 1974
