Existential Seduction: A Collection of Poems
An Ode To You
Like a nightbloom
blossoming
Eyes captivated by fumes
glistening
Let me swallow
your pain
Let me undo
the chain
Like a regal
bird
Plummeting among
the absurd
Let me save
your abyss
Let me speak
“You are my bliss”
For,
There is nothing like your
cooling arms
Preserving my walls of skin
from the sun’s harm
There is nothing like your
voice of sugar
In care of my wounds
made of bitter
There is nothing like your
sunset lips
Kissing my forehead
like dew drops
You’d never let me
rust-
You clasp my heart
made of stardust
Safeguarding
like an ocean
finding
its shore
Mandatory
A Monologue
I was twenty years old when I said yes
My heart fluttered in fear, gasp
-swift alarm bells ringing
Through the crowd running
Your hand guiding mine
Seduction by a line
Within a minute-
I wanted eternity to quit it
I remember the ask as if last night
-We looked like symmetry in fright-
A kiss to seal the deal
How did I become so ideal?
My heart was shrieking:
Stop before reason becomes fleeting
No longer to be called free-
My body moved without me
Limbs accepting, brain rejecting
Dazzling promises covered in tar
The mistake dripped so far
Years go by where it remains
Erasure never to be obtained
And then, did you know, I fell
Into a death-
An existential death I was left
Breathing freely was a luxury
The vow ruined me
The azraels would disagree
Denial stretching my lips-
Speech miles from my grip
Catalyst for the dread
My form melted into the bed
No longer able to taste joy
All I could desire was to destroy
Throw the gem across the room
Every look was nothing but doom
My panic rose to silence
For talking to a wall is pointless
Capable was a dream-
Are you catching onto the theme?
The public spectacle, tickets for sale
However, they missed one detail-
My resilience is mandatory
But with a swipe of purgatory,
I landed alone, covered in malice
Judgemental and callous
They all laughed at the blood
The all laughed at its flood
I know you saw me drinking concrete
Coming to my feet, still blurry
I was a prize to be sold, a price to command
‘Off with her head’, they demand
A dance of guilt changed my mind
But now I see, I was left blind
It was a torment only to those who could see
But who would that be?
A story of love never lost
It never began, but it sure did cost
Horrified at myself for falling,
Giving a chance to the undeserving
Suffering in the bright of day
Can you see it this way?
And then the rumors sprouted,
‘Weeds aren’t sucking innocence’, they pouted
Why wouldn’t they pass me the water-
Did I really become that terrible daughter?
A Sonnet of Betrayal
You were never supposed to see me here
alone, endlessly tearing at my hair
You were never supposed to love me dear
a stark starry future, too much to bear
You were never supposed to let me fear
an obvious betrayal baring your teeth
If I had venom I’d punish with cheer
a bloody bite to the neck, I now seethe
How the light left my eyes, too surreal, no-
Did you even notice, your gaze elsewhere
Violence at my fingertips, let me go
Too stubborn to beg, iceberg with a flare
Refusing to melt, bellowing: come see!
To the sea of despair, I have killed me
Where I’m From
I am from chocolate cake
From Ghiradelli and those Sugar in the Raw packets
I am from the impoverished soil,
(struggling to be green, rotten, smelled like gasoline)
I am from orchids,
the Ophrys kind- looks like bees, transient beings who save us from ourselves
I’m from guilty self sacrificing
and defective dissension, like waves running away
From Vernon and Lois
I’m from the autonomy
restricted and identity selling thieves
From don’t be offensive
for truth, don’t wear
short skirts
I’m from their God of Doctrine, a facade
to worship fear, seduced by snakes
I’m from dirty suburbs, across from
the street from my chained elementary
Cereal and wine, from the bottles
I found in her closet, to the delicious bribes
The slow moving requests, molasses,
Relics under the house,
Speaking siren songs
Run away, run away
Faces we used to be
I was severed from the tree
Waiting to grow back
A seedling
