shadows (december poetry challenge: day 1)

My shadows and I (i)

She asked about my shadows,
If I ignore them.
My shadows giggle in my hollows
If only she knew…

My shadows and I (ii)


My shadows and I (i)

She asked about my shadows,
If I ignore them.
My shadows giggle in my hollows
If only she knew…

My shadows and I (ii)

They live in my ears
In between my toes – not like soil, but like fungus.
In my labia lips
In the vertebrae in my neck

My shadows and I (iii)

They burn in summer.
They tell me they have homes in my belly rolls –
They will never let me hide.

My shadows and I (iii)

Inadequacy, rage, shame
Precarity, folding into itself, like eggwhites
Skyrise desire, constantly crumbling, with no stairs,

My shadows and I (iv)

They promise me I can find solace in sex
In drink

My shadows and I (v)

When I sleep they turn my world black
Trick the colour out of me
Sing to me of suicide, always out of reach

My shadows and I (vi)

I make jewelry out of them
I will show them how they shine in the sun
I will teach them how to sing gentle songs
Of how they grew strong, how they grew weak
How they grew brave
How they no longer yearned to be beautiful