Category: Shadow Poetry

Shadow Poetry

you asked for

Daphne Shadows1 Comment

You tiptoed into my soul without my say so, slinging all these empty glass jars out of my closet and into my rib cage, breaking the siren song of eternal silence against the wall of this slippery, pumping, bloody mess that keeps me alive.

That’s a falsity. You didn’t tiptoe. You brushed your fingers through the sand, dug them into my scalp, kicking up all these embers until I was choking on the smoke of my own madness. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it.

I don’t know if I should smile ’til you’re on your knees or batter up and swing, let you burn inside my skin or bury you under your audacity to waltz into my heart.

So I’m standing on a doorway, sleeping under a fence, waking in between, drowning in the liminal. Fire dripping off my lips, teeth bared, trying to get a hold on reality. there’s a blurry sign somewhere but I’ve gone blind under the weight of the unknown. patience isn’t my thing, you see.

I am a wild animal, a predator and you’re all alone. I am a wildfire you have asked for but didn’t expect.

Shadow Poetry

coiled

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I am a live fire or flatlining and nothing else.

I am broken glass and feathery down.

Starless night and sun soaked waves.

I am everything that aches when no one is looking and radiant joy in moments unspoken.

I am here. An empty memory I cannot remember. A boundless emptiness pretty much anyone with the right key can find.

By Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

patchwork stitchwork

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do you remember?

before the veil? beyond the pale?

do you remember?

after the fall? when you took it all?

i remember

how she swept the night. rigged the fight.

i remember

when you stole my blood. left a letter in the mud.

i can’t tell you

for the chain on my heart. my pain is your art.

i’ll learn

from every new stroke. i’ll fix what you broke.

i’ll make one that’s new

one that sees me, not you.

by Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

betrayal

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don’t thank me

i might’ve stepped on you

had you strayed

don’t try to change me

i’ll take from you

if your lie is true

and when i’m done

your lungs will empty

and your heart will pound

you’ll call for me

but i won’t be found

by Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

contrary

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silence becomes blaringly loud if you’re willing to hurt enough to hear it.

this sorrow can’t eat into my bones any further. but then you turn your back on me and i’m riddled with hollow marrow. my cells turn on themselves.

this isn’t supposed to hurt but my skin is burning with the cold of your emptiness.

this wasn’t a nightmare. how did you do this? break this so fully? can’t the sun hit my heart enough to bring me back? from the edge. from the moment. the moment i forget how to boil my own blood until i can speak through lips i own.

this wasn’t supposed to hurt.

this wasn’t supposed to hurt.

By Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

Deja Vu

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I got in a fight

And broke my own nose

Could be nicer, I suppose

The mirror shattered

I woke up on the other side

Left my bloodied wings behind

Because I know

There’s mold behind the dry wall

Never capitulate when I fall

The decay keeps hiding

But I can smell it out

I don’t know what this is about

Pieces of glass in my way

I think I found your secret

Don’t know if I can keep it

You’re not who I thought

This reflection’s getting murky

I keep forgetting it’s me

I got in a fight

And broke my own hold

The duality never gets old

by Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

here there be dragons

Daphne Shadows1 Comment

your breath keeps fogging up my heart. fingertips charred, frostbitten heart, you need this. hope hurts but it’s the only game in town. and if my lungs can pretend I’m alive, we can make it on this tightrope. too far from the ground to know what’s up or down, bleed into it. dig in. electricity swimming through my nerve endings, a heady breeze stolen from the safety just out of reach.

I had my eyes closed when I tripped over your wings, blinked and you were gone. I’m dropping baggage and balancing on broken feet. try me. they already did, with gasoline in their veins and thorns in their embrace, but they fell to their own poison.

a kiss can never lie but death sure tries. and just before I flatlined, I felt it wake in me. a sleeping creature that met me as I fell, live flames in my mouth, jumper cables to my heart.

breathing fire isn’t so hard, after all.

by Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

The Weight of Every Feather

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I feel. And you punish me.
I try to heal. And you break me.
Little glimpses, little offenses. I live inside your kaleidoscope, swirling in hues of agony.
So brave. So brave to peel your skin off for everyone. Wrong one. Wrong skin. Wrong soul.
Stuck in a web of lies. Razor blades in my spine. I take them out. You put them back.
Silly little child. It’s no big deal.
Never is.
There is a disease in my blood. You pour these bullets into my hand. Pull the trigger so I cant burn down this cage.
Pump my stomach for the key but you’ve drowned me in these useless tears.
The sky is falling from my lips and ive lost myself to you.
I hate you.
Silly little child. Its no big deal.
Never is.
Silly little feather. Silly heart. Thinking you can breathe. You are shards of ice or hot enough to burn and nothing else.
I try to temper you. You shatter me against the darkness, burry me in the hope until I’ve done it again.
I’ve forgotten. Again. I feel. And you punish me.

by Daphne Shadows