Fragmented

Fragmented

Down the labyrinthine ways
I fled,
Down the nights and down the days,
Through exhibtionary hallways,
Droplets of red
Turned dirt on the floors.
Each turn a new quill, ricocheted off the walls
Into a limb, a leg, a hand, a back,
Fearful chase followed by sounds of dread,
Long teeth echo and clack.
The taunting threat

Interrupted from the shadows,
“Stop running, why not rest aside my iron stage?
Why not sit and heal the injuries cast upon you so?”
Looking more a rodent without its spines, the Porcupine slows
And turns away from the cage.
Fear engulfs fear
The Porcupine or the shadow? To be chased or remain here?
Curiousity engulfs pain benign
I stay and watch the canine.
Aged is he, with flaking skin and falling hair;
With voice which crackles like rusty snare.
I ask why this hurt is so deeply sown.
Softly the Coyote speaks, “Not all pain is known,
But from all pain can knowledge be learnt.
The bee stings despite knowing the action is cursed,
Does it sting as it does not fear the hearse?
Or because the promise of death is inert
Compared with the need to protect its home.
The mantis searches to no longer be alone,
Despite knowing this love ends in rage.
Does he fight for her because he welcomes his passing?
Or being that the potential of the exchange
Means more than can be found in living.
Can you truly welcome something to the hearth,
That which already walks beside you on the path?

Not even the milk of paradise, wine-aged,
Can hide the cracks within those caves of ice, that sunny dome.”
With the quills now plucked afrom my skin,
I scratch at the ground with tilted chin,
Claret ink stains the grout about the cage.
Come with me, I plead, I beg.
“I cannot leave, your will despite.”
Come with me, I have bled, I have begged.
“If I leave my solitary, I am bound to bite,”
Young is he, with amber eyes and speckled fur,
Voice laden with gentle mirth.
I am what remains, standing there, with no feeling, no anger.
The Coyote bares his teeth, moving closer and closer
With a pitying smile, he begins to mutter,
“How do you live? Are you happy with your worth?”
Blurry eyes, the wetness of a pillow,
The Coyote’s voice in my mind echoes.
A child stuck waiting for rebirth.

Notes

Notes

Below are some notes about this piece, including the thoughts and external inspirations that occurred during its creation. 
Bear in mind, this is simply what I was thinking of when I wrote these poems and what they mean to me. If you interpreted them differently, that does not diminish how you felt as the reader nor the correctness/incorrectness of what you were thinking. 
Fragmented [2024] is a ballad-type poem based on a dream I had. Some poems take a few minutes, others a few hours or a few days, this poem took me almost three months to write. I chose this form as an attempt to follow the rhyming scheme of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘Kubla Khan’, I also referenced the poem itself in the lines 37–38. Another reference is lines 1–3 which are an antimetabole of the first few lines of ‘The Hound of Heaven’ by Francis Thompson to foreshadow the later implication of the coyote as the hound of heaven. 
ballad

Below are some notes about this piece, including the thoughts and external inspirations that occurred during its creation.
Bear in mind, this is simply what I was thinking of when I wrote these poems and what they mean to me. If you interpreted them differently, that does not diminish how you felt as the reader nor the correctness/incorrectness of what you were thinking. Poetry is subjective, and so is being alive.

“Iron stage” is a reference to Max Weber’s sociologist theory of the ‘iron cage’ which suggests that economic and technological relationships which are organised and grew from capitalist production became fundamental forces in society. Basically, if you are born into a society arranged in this way with the hierarchical social structure and labour division that comes with it – which most of us are – you cannot help but be involved in this system. By extension, our lives and worldviews are shaped by this system to such an extent that it is difficult to imagine an alternative way of life. The ‘iron cage’ is a set of rules and laws in which we are all subjected and must adhere to. It is a hindrance to our freedom and those who are born into the cage, live out those rules and, in doing so, continue its legacy. ‘All the world’s a stage’, to be different is to be free.
“Not all pain is known” is an important line for me because I despise the idea that pain was meant to happen. No pain is meant to happen. Growth is meant to happen. Sometimes that growth comes from pain but that does not mean you deserve what happened to you simply because it led you here.
“…that love ends in rage” Fun Fact! A male praying mantis will fight a female mantis for the opportunity to mate with her. If he wins, she will let him, and then she will bite his head off and eat him when they’re done to gain extra nutrition for when she is gravid (the insect term for pregnancy).

Sources: 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Francis Thompson
Poetry Foundation
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 
Sociology Learners