Guilt

[Maya]

I love "sits on its haunches". It brings up, right in the first line, the mental image of a beast of some kind, which is then confirmed in the following lines. However, in S2 the poem goes from a metaphorical description of guilt to a present-moment situation of the girl next door. There is no transition and this was a little jarring. I enjoyed the comparison of the child's guilt and "my own"; however, ending on a question when no other question has been asked does feel weak and leaves the reader feeling unsatisfied.