Best Introspectionfire Poems


A Newly Budded Fire

I.

I am devastated by the fire and frost 
of these seasons between separation and divorce. 
No vindictive act quite cures the phantom pain 
that exists only in the emptiness.

II.
Dim capsules pad my senses
and brittle fruits amuse my tongue

rx inhibitions sewn into the folds 
of small hours; a temporary vaccination
against the moments in life 
that challenge my will to live.


III.

Wishing stars and a thick weeping moon
curl up beneath animated skin 
like a thousand tumors
anticipating the feeling 
of some strange 

Knowing


III.

Eyes eavesdrop, Midnight disciples
bear witness to my streams 
of misunderstood whispers 
as if they might interpret my lexis 
of suspired scrolls;
those vanishing ellipses that curl from lips  
in the gestation of a moment.

III.

This restlessness; it germinates 
into a blooming sub-species of fire,

aches of famine and fullness 
always alternate

a layer of sun 
over a layer of sin.


IV.

The consequences of containing fire
blossom in my mouth, 
uncurling one petal of fire after another 
until some great 
demon-flower crawled from between my lips 

an anonymous hunger, 
that constantly folds self into self
and manipulates 
the occult within

V.
I was someone with you and I will be 
someone without you.

Amnesty

Painted Delilah's, scarlet sirens, apples and bloodshed- 

You tried to teach me to fear the bold obscenities of Red, to be a willing captive within 
conventions of virtue and the expectations that came with my gender and station.

I learned to speak softly, in shades of anemic pink but my tongue was never far from 
hemorrhaging.

I resisted the riots building within, but with each aspiration I found myself closer to the 
consequences of containing fire; the blisters in the wake of passions, the residual footprints 
left on the tip of my tongue by the spirit of my own fire.

I'm not a red woman. I’ve never gone looking for Red, it came to me from somewhere inside 
and I swallowed it, afraid that it would blossom in my mouth, uncurling one petal of fire after 
another until some great demon-flower crawled from between my lips to seduce my fate with 
a brimstone damped tongue.

I couldn't choke on my voice forever, so it has manifested itself through my hands, through 
my poetry. My fire has found amnesty and burns silently so that you do not have to hear 
what I need to say. 

My words may be stained red but they have not slaughtered any lambs or stirred an 
apocalyptic sequence of events. 

I cannot live without breathing, even if I would like to aid your comfort… and so, I breathe 
through my fingers so you might enjoy the silence and company of your own red-blind 
convictions.

Moving Target

like a bullet through the barrel
hitting the dead-on center
steady on the trigger
as it makes that clicking sound
a full clip loaded in the grip
as I fire another round
it's not close to being finished
cause I'm just getting started

a silhouette on a wire
with circles for my sight
as I fire each new round
I always hit my mark
I hit the switch and bring it
closer for me to admire
but what I have discovered is
I can't hit a moving target
© Jo Bien  Create an image from this poem.


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