The Emotional Well

This poem was written in response to the Rattle® Poetry Ekphrastic Challenge for September 2022. However, I felt it needed work and this it was never submitted. You can find more information here.

https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

The image that this poem was specifically written about can be found here. (September 2022 – Bonnie Riedinger’s “Take Heart”)

https://i0.wp.com/www.rattle.com/ekphrasis/EC22Sep.jpg?ssl=1

The Emotional Well

A good well is dug deep

And my cistern reaches

Caverns of my soul

Which your gilded light

Hath never touched

And in this darkness

Festers things

That your golden joy

Could not imagine

In the emptiness, loneliness

Echoes of my own voice

Unhappiness, worthlessness

My thoughts and judgments

Poisoning, cutting me down

Food for the monster

Scarred by pain and loss

Fueled by anger and hatred

In through the cracks and crevices

Seeps water

Rusting the armor of battle

Reaching tender places

Yet uncorrupted by emotion

A fire sparks the

Powder keg with quarter-inch fuse

And the geyser erupts

To the shock

Of the world above

No longer pushed down

Under ground, sand, and skin

I lash out, biting and striking

Gnashing teeth, frothing at the mouth

Until the fire burns out, screams its throat sore

Water thrown everywhere, drenching all

Worn down and withdrawing

Retreating with the tide

The silence and raspy breath

Breathed in, then expelled

For the outburst

Has been packed back inside

But the water still leeches through

The pressure builds and the monster feeds

It only be a matter of time

Before it blows again

A good well is dug deep

And I am a spring

That will never run dry