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Poets & Storyteller's prompt is "Survive out of spite". I merged the two.
A Separate Peace
Care about what others think
and you will always be their prisoner.
- Lao Tzu
Pity.
I pity you.
The fire you carry
Can only consume you.
It shows in your face,
In your fists, in your eyes.
All of it wasted on me.
My goal,
My mission,
Is to laugh at you,
To laugh openly
At the emotions
That are constantly
Brewing,
Infusing your life,
With an acidic phlegm—
Corroding the vessel
That contains them.
It is not my role
To reflect them back at you,
Neither magnified, nor reduced,
Just ignored.
That is the greatest revenge,
To make and hold a space
Where I am constant and true
To my own values,
To walk my own path.
To not to give you a piece of my mind,
But to create a peace within my mind,
A separate peace.
◊
To put people's minds at rest, I had no-one specifically in mind when writing this. It was just a writing exercise.
ReplyDeleteI like the pace of this poem, slow and controlled, almost through gritted teeth. The ‘acidic phlegm—Corroding the vessel that contains them’ is an effective metaphor, and I love the wordplay in the final tercet.
ReplyDeleteThis is incredibly raw and powerful, J! Yes, we pay no heed to the "acidic phlegm." ❤️
ReplyDelete“The wise man draws more advantage from his enemies than the fool from his friends.” - Ben Franklin
ReplyDeleteNice. Don't let the stupid jerk have a piece of your mind!
ReplyDeletePK
You made spite seem noble!
ReplyDeleteHow very true. I always think that being nasty and evil must take so much more energy, so much more effort, so much conniving and wrestling with demons, than to simply be good and kind and decent. The latter is so much easier only if you've mastered to control your negativity, which is of course very difficult to do...
ReplyDeleteStriking interpretation of both prompts!
ReplyDeleteI love the certainty of voice in this poem - we all must stand tall and up for ourselves - Jae
ReplyDeleteI am glad you told us in comment # 1 this is not autobiographical ... You have delivered a strong message to this fictional person ... forcefully and beautifully!!
ReplyDelete"To make and hold a space
ReplyDeleteWhere I am constant and true
To my own values,
To walk my own path.
To not to give you a piece of my mind,
But to create a peace within my mind,
A separate peace."
Outstanding and powerful!