Perpetua

scrape
the shavings of my heart
from under your fingernails,
you clawed from the inside of your car
And sing the ABCs while you wash your soul,
you sobered when the clock frowned
And afterwards make yourself a sandwich with guilt,
you must be hungry after all that work

peel
away the echoes of my cries
from the backs of your eyelids,
you tried very hard not to enjoy it
And do some yoga to sooth your heartburn,
you gave your mistake a backrub for its trouble
And crawl beneath the sheets of your ordeal,
you caged yourself like an animal in filth

forgive
me for the broken bone
i delivered when the daisies wilted,
you forgot to water them, you know
And listen to the woman who woke you,
you buoyed in the sludge of can't and tried
And perhaps try again tomorrow to sew your skin into a quilt,
you counted the lesions on the wall and began again

Comments & reviews · 3
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User avatar
Sassykat
Review

Liked it. Shorter, but got the meaning across very, very well. This poem portrays a very unique emotion; a "you've done something bad to me, but I will forgive you if you promise to take responsibility for your actions and change." Very sweet, very well done.

User avatar
KatTrain
Review

scrape
the shavings of my heart use a synonym for 'heart'. It'll sound less cliche. Love the imagery though.
from under your fingernails,
you clawed from the inside of your carperiod
And sing the ABCs while you wash your soul,
you sobered when the clock frowned
And afterwards make yourself a sandwich with guilt, The 'and's should be avoided. Sometimes it works in a poem to end/start a line with 'and' but they're best unused.
you must be hungry after all that work
This stanza's lines feel really really choppy. There's too many ideas in on sentence. Punctuation would help a lot too.
peel
away the echoes of my cries
from the backs of your eyelids, again, wonderful imagery
you tried very hard not to enjoy it
And do some yoga to clear your hands, The sentence structure is really weird. You do from past to present and it's confusing. Too many ideas in one stanza again. I'm pretty sure these lines are a 'separate' poem, but this isn't very obvious and is mixes up your reader.
you gave your mistake a backrub for its trouble
And crawl beneath the sheets of your ordeal,
you caged yourself like an animal in filth great imagery.

forgive
me for the broken bone
i delivered when the daisies wilted,
you forgot to water them, you know
And listen to the woman who woke you,
you buoyed in the sludge of "can't' and 'tried'
And perhaps try again tomorrow to sew your skin into a quilt,
you counted the lesions on the wall and began again

Keep writing! this was really creative.
-KatTrain



Bring something incomprehensible into the world!
— Gilles Deleuze