This one was written during a poetry workshop hosted by the ever generous, and supportive, Alix Klingenberg. A workshop in which I never could quite stick to the brief, this poem was inspired by a prompt about keeping the lights off. Something about that conjured this feeling of pressure, and this poem was born from that.
Pressure rises.
Ever present.
The cracks it makes across my body
seeping out
then in.
Breathing through my lungs
without permission.
A silent
seething
coiled snake
in waiting.
Ready to lash out
at the slightest provocation.
Too much traffic.
An ill timed joke.
Fruit spilling from the grocery bag.
It doesn’t take much for
the eruption.
Heat settles,
a ring around the air.
A banishing spell
to anyone who hoped to come
much closer.
I’d like to say I mind it
but
I appreciate the quiet it brings
A distance…
Between me…
And everything…
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