The Jagged Edges
J with Four Options Poetry Contest: Free verse
sponsor :Constance La France
Date:7/31/25
“Not all pain howls, some sharpens”
by poet
I never asked to come out clean
life carved me raw on purpose
some parts were shaped in silence
the rest I had to burn
not all soft things were meant to last
I watched them melt then vanish
while I turned thorn to anthem
and dressed my hurt in steel
you think I cracked but I evolved
I had to break open just to breathe
if I could trace the shape of my breaking
I might learn what it means to remain
still I stand here not whole but aware
jagged edges still holding what I could
I walk with wounds that never fade
but shine beneath the skin
my scars all lines of poetry
the world was too quiet to hear
there’s beauty in the splintered
when you stop calling it a flaw
Copyright © Brenda Chiri | Year Posted 2025
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