Feb 2cd Poem: I Wrote This in the Dark

Feb 2cd Poem: I Wrote This in the Dark

Feb 02, 2024

I wrote this in the dark

huddled in the closet

despair clutching my throat;

like a lost child β€” (like)

my mouth full of dust β€” my

breath heavy and lingering

outside my body.

It's cavity, muddled

and sore, is vexed negation;

a horse, saddled full

to burdensome, with remorse.

I cushion myself, hide and abide

inside the cuddle-space revealed

and concealed β€” discomfort

being the heart of reality.

The mission of all poets is

to rip away the pretense of

depression, its revealed truth

is the very heart of grief,

like a field after slaughter,

drained of meaning,

fragmented and bulging β€”

a single campfire left smoldering.

by Annette Gagliardi

Published in the May 2023 issue of Down in The Dirt Magazine (V207, realeased 5/1/23) In print by May 2023. Web page:

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