Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Linda M. Crate- Three Poems


rising from my ashes 
 
i am here to prove you are not immortal
that you will fall from the sky
like icarus with his wax wings,
and the ocean will devour you until there's
nothing left for even the carrion to
find; 
you asked me not to be a dream when you
woke so i will be your nightmare
instead—
you left me behind after promising to rescue
me from all the snow and misery,
and you deceived me
in every way you could and then tried to come
out of it all smelling like a rose;
but i have never smelled garbage so rancid
as the words that left your mouth—
i am not an idiot,
and you must have truly believed me to be
to think that i would fall for your
false sincerity and believe utterances that i knew
were lies;
you left me in the ocean hoping it would erode me
along with all your other blue lipped angels—
but from my ashes i rose
like a phoenix
never again will anyone rain down on my last spark,
and put them all out because i was meant to
shine;
one day you will see just how bright as i burn
away everything you knew of me.



choke on your lies 
 
you mistook yourself for a vampire,
but i am the one with the 
fangs;
i will drag them across your face
should we meet again
erode you with oceans of memories
a thousand years old—
you sought to tame me but my heart is
wild and i will not be tamed,
and i thought you understood that from the
start;
i was not meant to be conquered
only loved and respected for whom and what
i am and was but you could not
do that—
you always insisted that i had to change,
instead of accepting that there were some things
about me that would always remain the
same;
perhaps i lost too much of myself
trying to impress you
but the tempest in me has returned and my soul has
reconstructed itself from the ashes you left
in me—
now i am stronger than you have ever known
burning with all the fires of celestial heavens
i am my own galaxy,
and the world is made of many;
you are but a speck in the eye of the universe and you
meant so much to me but you made me less than
the speck in the eye of the universe
so i hope one day you choke on the vibrant
fabric of your lies.



the gift of light
 
you left me in the darkness
i wept and wept,
praying and hoping and dreaming that
one day you would return to me
apologize for what you had
done;
but you were unapologetic for everything the
insincerity and the lies you gave me
cheating on me and of taking my virginity and 
for stealing all the light in my eyes—
i cried some more
until i felt a thousand centuries had past,
and one morning i woke up
the pain was gone but in it's stead there was a 
double-edged sword of anger and wrath
laying among the peace;
i know now you are not worth my fury or
even this poem,
but you never let me get the last word in 
or to speak to you of everything i thought we should
and could
so now you get to sit down and shut up—
i warned you of my vibrant fury
shining brighter than the sun
and you were only ever the moon trying to steal
my light and i let you
foolishly,
but i've learned from my mistakes and i won't
let anyone take my light from me
i will only burn them 
should they endeavor to take it because it is a
gift not everyone deserves.
 
 
 
Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville.  Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. Recently her two chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press - June 2013) and Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon - January 2014) were published. Her fantasy novel Blood & Magic is forthcoming from Ravenswood Publishing.

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