Prickly Darkness

The darkness can consume the heart

Slowly like a rose withering away

It stands in the corner breathing heavy

Until it runs out of patience

Asserting dominance over the ones who hold light

Within the darkness

Prickly vines grow

Reaching out to strike it's target

And strangle the ones not deemed worthy

They feel the prick of every vine touching their skin

And a strange fire sets them aflame

Until the pain is no longer just pain

But tilting on the edge of pleasure

Imprinted on the skin

Marks the moment

Where eternal becomes physical

Tree limbs

Tree limbs grow inside my stomach

Even the ones I was taught to disregard

But the heaviness comes into my awareness,

Like a lightning storm that rumbles the ground,

The tree limbs feel like ancient secrets

That I have held onto

From memories that aren't quite remembered

Not yet

Slowly

I let the liquid drain

And I notice a new layer

The true architect underneath the fog

Healing the density

That has wrapped up my essence

In ways I am only beginning to understand

The sun was waiting to kiss her

I let my dark side play

As if I was waking up from eternal sleep

I had unleashed the puzzle pieces

That I found so hard to deny any longer

My darkness felt like needles on my skin

I wanted to wash away the feeling

As if the water could make me pretend

That I didn't have sides I wanted to hide away

But I unlocked the chains around her arms and her legs

And I let her wander out the door,

Her bare feet touched the grass

And the flames engulfed her

As if the sun was waiting to kiss her

I unearthed a part of me

I unearthed my sexuality

A quiet rumbling in the night

That goes unnoticed by others

I uncrinkled the can

That shrunk out of shame

I don't need their prying eyes

Holding words that feels like knives

I needed to find my own self

Even if the ocean wanted to overpower me

One minute I'm floating

The next minute I'm inside my own darkness

Crouching down to admire my own body

The way sensations strike the truth

Before the mind can even shut down the fire

I became Medusa

I stepped through the threshold

And I began to accept my inner world

Letting go of the shame

That I needed to hide my soul away

Like a dusty box under the floorboard

Of a house that withstood tornadoes

I became Medusa

The version of her who broke the chains

And found liberation

I am no longer afraid of the way I intimidate others

For owning my depths