The Discarded, The Forgotten

I am accustomed to spitting out bones of my prisoners, not witnessing their escape. I hear whales whistle their stoic dirges as I descend—they know the doomed are villains and freedom is promised to the brave of the brine. I am Devil Damsel, doomed as villain deemed with jagged teeth of unworthy. I am a colorless livid leviathan ghost ready to seize joy from the helpless, from the hopeful. I see red, but I am not blind. Before my downward plunge, I witnessed stars in the sky. Distracted by their glow, I missed your own, sinking back down into my monomaniac world, where stars are only dreams I shame over. 								

Seductive subduction. 

I thought I knew darkness till I saw that glow—that glimpse of unreachable light. And I can live there. All I need to do is swim upward and kiss the surface. But the abyss—I consume it, and it consumes me. 
									        
  Hydrostatic hell. 

I am chained to these Platonian trenches eternally deemed ignorant. Death boxes. Nailed, anchored, mercurial, messy, mine. I deal with the discarded, the forgotten just as I disembody the discarded, the forgotten. 
									
Catastrophic cold. 


It freezes everything that I am that you see me only in your pain.




(Note: this is a sequel to an older poem I wrote years ago called Devil Damsel)
Copyright © | Year Posted 2025

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Beaufort Avatar
February 17, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Laura, there are those who seek comfort in dark impulses. I do like your last line. We need to be aware that these creatures exist (like Count Muskula and Trumpenstein, for example) and not turn a blind eye. Unfortunately, we're watching much of what we know and love freeze over because many decided to turn away when they could. Anyway, I do hope you are well. Glad to see you're posting. Smiles!
Breidenthal Avatar
February 22, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Comfort in dark impulses… I like that… I love how you analyze, process the words. I am well—I hope you are too— thank you for your thoughts. <3
Bordner Avatar
February 16, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Terrifying and tempting, raw and wise...perfect rage, perfect pain, perfect predation. You continue to demonstrate your poetic Mastery Poetess, your mastery of Self, and love for life...J.A.B.
Breidenthal Avatar
February 22, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I’d like to think I’ve mastered the depths but I fear they still master me. Thank you Justin, for being that light just above the surface. <3 Laura
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