Tara Hicks Poet Free verse

Today

I let the roar
Of the waterfall
Drown out
The doubt,
The pain,
The longing,
The fear.

I climbed a large rock,
My fear already churned in the rapids,
And surveyed the river
Below…
My self a naked feast for the flies.

And,
Drying in the sun,
I shed the weight of apathy.

The fear tried
(It tried)
To come up for air
But, 
I held it down with a river rock
As
I bared my teeth in defiance.

A sound,
Like a rumble,
Burbled up from my gut
And broke above the roar
Of the falls,
Soaring it began as a low growl:

“No you don’t! Not…no not…

And triumphed with:

“Not Today!” 

©?2026TaraHicks

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Alison A Smith September 21, 2026 at 3:51 PM A powerful, elemental free-verse piece: the waterfall and rapids become vivid allies in a hard-won act of self-defiance. The clipped repetitions and rising voice build beautifully toward the fierce, uplifting final declaration—“Not Today!” Tara Hicks September 21, 2026 at 11:26 PM Thank you Alison. Frankly, I never expected to receive any feedback (true feedback is rather rare outside of one group I'm in) and yours validated my efforts. Sometimes, the poems take a while to form...they brew and they morph until they are ready to share. This one came out in one go...one moment it was a feeling, the next it was a poem.