Tsunami
Today's exercise was to write a poem where the speaker is under the influence of a specific emotion, showing the emotion solely through the use of imagery. My granddaughter had a meltdown yesterday, so this was perhaps an obvious scene to try to capture, and in so doing, try to understand her a little bit more.
Tsunami
The world shrinks to the size of her table,
a drawing gone wrong and the world is ending,
its betrayal leading her to the edge of a precipice
alone, exposed, hiding the way back to normality.
She shrieks Aaaaaah! Aaaaaah!
Tears rise like an incipient tsunami
on the cusp of wreaking chaos;
she rocks to hold the breach at bay.
They gather around her, asking their questions,
but how can she know what the answers are;
how can she tell if those arms which reach to hold her tight
will soothe or suffocate?
All she knows is this enveloping black sickness,
this stabbing need for her mother, far away
in the weekday home with the adorable baby sister;
far away from this blue weekend world of boys and men.
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