literature

She who destroys the light

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Daily Deviation

June 5, 2011
She who destroys the light by ~poetoffire flows through a garden of mythology, drawing in similar motifs from a multitude of religions to create a global, haunting poem.
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Literature Text

first seed
Darling, you and I both know
in a better world I could be your Lethe
wrap around you, drown you
erode everything
that ever tried to bring your fate down on you.
Still if I picked up the pieces
I'd hear their soft hum—
the one shells moan for the sea—
for even then there would be places in you
still not free.

second seed
Surely women must have learned by now
never to trust fruit.
A garden is a prison earned
and there is nothing satanic, nothing sacred
about hunger.
Yet when your body curls in on itself
seduced by not-seeds that need only thirst to root
you find your lips wet
and what might be blood or juice
becomes the same as sweat.

third seed
Your skin is singing
I swear, hymns to the colors
the way the world's ringing hurts your ears
the salt of the Dead Sea come alive in your tears
the smell only in the sky as the rain clears
the poppy-eyed bud people who spend years
walking around, faces turned toward the light
thrusting pomegranate crown
fingers up up up to pray
as if the good lord giveth for reasons
other than to contrast what happens
when he taketh away.

fourth seed
If I was brave enough
I would plant my spit and bones and fingernails
and grow roses
when you build glass houses for your stones.
But I am no iron queen
content to perfectly decompose.
All I can do is lay down on your altar
dream of making the world barren
as my organs feel it must be.
When things that flowed under me have dried
screaming echoes into spiral shells
will never change the tide.

fifth seed
If only there would not be seasons—
but, oh, darling
I know he's idling between nerve endings
painting wine wings on your shoulder blades
his words sticking between
the back of your throat and swallowing
and I don't care, now.
You will, I hope you won't but you will
and still the world is alight.
Tinged in green, fit to bursting
it cascades through gaps in the boughs
of our tree of
you're the one who gives me
life.

sixth seed
Persephone, if this curse would let me
before you next depart
I would crown you queen of queens
give you rule over your 613-chamber heart.
In Judaism, the pomegranate is a sacred fruit because it's said that the average number of seeds is 613, the number of commandments in the Torah.

In Greece, there is still a mysticism of the pomegranate that goes back to Persephone and Hades.

Persephone's name translates into "she who destroys the light", just like Isis's name translates into "she of the throne".

A sequel to [link] , but very different because my feelings about the situation have changed and mellowed out.

This is the first poem I've written that's entirely from my own POV. Metaphors, but no exaggeration, my story to tell.

It's so good to be writing poetry again, and I'm really proud of this one.
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EmmetEarwax's avatar
NOW you know why I called the pomegranate "the fruit of hell".