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If Only You Had Left Me Alone, by Candace Arthuria Williams

1/3/2021

 
FOOD
It is the custom to crack

Open the shell

And eat of its fruit.


But what if you are inside

Cocooned in a fetal position

And along they come with sharpened picks

To hack at your security

Plucking you out into chaos.


If only you had left me alone

Safe and warm from the teeth of the external

Why did you crack open the safety of my domain?

To cut me to pieces and devour me.

I am ravaged by your gluttony

Exposed to a multitude of sins

Yet too broken to return.


If only you had left me alone
Sandra James
1/3/2021 07:40:16 pm

Beautiful poem, Candace. Thought-provoking and very sad...and those words will stay with me. Well done!

Peggy Gerber
1/3/2021 08:43:42 pm

I love this poem Candace. What an incredibly clever metaphor for times that we just want to remain in our cocoon, undisturbed. Really beautiful.

Eunice Pruitt
1/3/2021 09:20:32 pm

Very powerful and very poignant. People can be very intrusive and judgmental. This speaks out against that in a very beautiful way.

Jeri Kadison
1/3/2021 10:55:03 pm

So deep
Right to core- the heart
Such Brave courageous words
Bravo

Sue Clayton
2/3/2021 01:52:24 am

Wonderful use of words, Candace, creating a vision of how how life can turn against you.

Mary Wallace
2/3/2021 06:36:04 am

So much feeling in this poem Candace.

Marie Johnson-Ladson
2/3/2021 07:59:27 pm

Great poem, it was heart felt.
Well done!

DiAna Smith-Brown
2/3/2021 08:32:21 pm

Being disturbed in our place of solitude can be a jarring experience. This helps me to remember to carry my peace within me. Thank you.

Candace Arthuria Williams
2/3/2021 11:43:48 pm

Thanks everybody. I was compelled to write this after corresponding with a former friend who looked me up for the sole purpose of cracking my shell. "Former" being the operative word. Your comments will go a long way towards making me whole.

Padmini Krishnan
5/3/2021 04:37:15 am

The perpetrator doesn't care about the extent of damage she caused, but the victim remains disturbed for a long time. Sorry this happened to you. A sad, but evocative poem.

Candace Arthuria Williams
5/3/2021 11:59:47 am

Not as sad as it would have been twenty years ago. Fortunately, resilience comes with age. Thank you for your kindness, Padmini.


Comments are closed.

    Poetry

    This is the section where fiction prose becomes something else. We still expect the poems to be short, though – sonnets, perhaps, or around that length at the very most.

    Poems submitted should be
    no longer than 160 words
    and contain
    no more than 16 lines.

    100 words remains the approximate target.

    Please submit using the Poetry Submissions Page.


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