Laurentine G Poet Ekphrasis

Inspired by The Voice - Summer night by Edvard Munch

Let my ribs and the trees cage me in
     I'm too afraid to speak
  balance is too hard to fathom
like the word "unwanted" is on ribbon I've swallowed
     choking me 
  as 
    it
 melds
     to
  my 
      lungs.

Stay quiet
      wait until you're wanted...

  But what will it do to me?
            time passes around me
    birds fly
days rise and fall
       I empty my mind
    hold on - 
            stay paused.

Can you be achingly afraid?
    scared to be my own demise
simply by existence.

I'll hold my tongue.

  My heart is broken
         too afraid to voice -    
  how it feels
       to be quiet.

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Paige Hind April 12, 2026 at 11:20 PM this hits my emotions

David Kavanagh April 8, 2026 at 11:46 AM Incommunicado and locked in solitary confinement, I can sense the walls/trees closing in, and being swallowed by the perceived unwanted soul, Munch really liked to play with the psyche of the observer, you have captured something quite extraordinary and disturbing LG, in this powerful thought provoking piece, cheers David Laurentine G April 8, 2026 at 1:30 PM When in the right mood I can really get into Munch's paintings - they are like layers of emotion rather than paint. Lucky for me I'm not experiencing any life mimicking art moments, although I'm not one to challenge if I'm upset about something and tend to sit with things feeling sick rather than shout about it and it can feel awful. Thank you for the thoughtful comment, I was going to enter this to Brian's contest but then wrote another and changed my mind!

Ink Empress April 8, 2026 at 10:18 AM Omg i almost started my todays poem with “ i am too afraid” gosh! Thankfully changed it later haha! Thank the Lord! Otherwise i would be plagiarizing you unknowingly:D hahaha This is just soul stirring and so moving and so sincere and every line has raw and real emotion that makes me feel so very deeply! Another new fave for me! Iv not seen this artpiece yet! I must have a look! Im intrigued but honestly’ what even is this! The last stanza! My heart’ hurts! Cus thats me too! Loveee this one Laurentine G April 8, 2026 at 11:14 AM Hopefully you'll see where I got the ribs and cage ideas from when you view - such separation when the decision is not to speak up and just hold feelings in! Ha - that would have been funny if they both had the same first line - like that time we posted with like 10 uncommon same words lol thanks for the fave and the enthusiasm :)