Linda M. Crate- Three Poems

monstrous 

you were damaged

i get that

hurt people, hurt people;

but you could

have broken the

cycle

it could have ended with you—

instead you dragged me

into the stark pale

of moonlight

and buried me beneath the ice

i was to become another

of your voiceless, blue-lipped angels that

could not speak of your

transgressions;

but i rose from the ashes burning away

all the ice and snow

you threw into my heart and soul

with the coldness and insincerity of your words

more cutting that winter's iciest fang

of icicles

for i am summer born—

perhaps i should let go of my anger,

but this passion in me burns bright and i want

vengeance not only for myself

but all the hearts you shattered for i am a moon child

even we have dark sides like our moon mother;

and you've provoked the long sleeping

monster of my anger

it roars for your lamentations.

heightened insecurities 

i know i'm far from perfect,

but was it really

necessary

to break my rose-tinted glasses

throw me face first

into a shark tank full of furious and

angry sharks that would rip

me to pieces

in the salty sea which would reopen

all the wounds you threw

so casually

into my heart?

i know that sometimes i get too angry

or i get too sad or i focus on

the wrong things,

but was it really such a crime for me

to love you?

the more i tried to get closer, the more you

shoved me away;

i wanted to burn away all your insecurities

while all you ever did was heighten

mine.

 

my inner goddess is a harpy 

they tell me i'm better off without you

i know that's true,

but still the anger and sorrow remain;

i wish you could know

the extent and measure of all the pain you

caused me

of how badly your lust severed my heart

because i loved you

i didn't just say it the way you did 

because you don't 

destroy those you love and simply make a game

and mockery of their hearts

the way you did

mine—

you told me once i didn't have a temper,

but that's not true;

i am sweet as persephone when i'm kind but once

my dark side has been awoken

i am artemis of the wood

ripping my enemies to pieces with the claws of bears

or fangs of hungry wolves or coyotes or

even the claws of angry corvids;

and now that artemis is awake in me she

wants to punish you for all the hurt you awoken in me.