An undergraduate professor was explaining the word iconoclastic to the class. As an example, she used ______.
The professor, “______, would you stand up, please?”
______, “Seriously?”
The class, laughing.
The professor, “Yes.”
______—standing, fearing, waiting for all the blows, and more.
The professor, “Now, there’s a ______ who marches to the beat of ______ own drum.”
Praise?
Foreign.
Somehow drastically more terrifying.
___
In ______ fantasies, ______ are/am/is on stage. Fully-bloomed. Performing with exquisite execution. Receiving endless applause.
It wasn’t supposed to feel like this.
Desiring to die as an imposter.
Needing to live as a believer
Exodus Oktavia Brownlow is a Blackhawk, Mississippi native whose writing aesthetic includes purposeful horror, character-driven fiction, and nonfiction writing that aims to create a healthier world for us all. She is a graduate of Mississippi Valley State University with a B.A in English, and Mississippi University for Women with a MFA in Creative Writing. She is published with Electric-Literature, Barren Magazine, Valley Voices, Luna Luna Magazine, X-Ray-Literary Magazine, Jellyfish Review and more. Exodus has a healthy adoration for the color green.
