wakingupto42 | Poetry Self Study #4

Devin’s Inferno

I am – matryoshska in design

A doll within a doll – I must peel back the layers to reveal my yolk

Set in the deepest part of the forest – dry and dormant as winter

At the bottom of the lake – frozen over like Cocytus

Is a heart, beating frantically

The Puppet Master’s dead hand still grips it –

Eternity ensnared in his theatre.

I know she can find her way in

Draws out the path with her eyes – strange to me - not as strange as my own

One gaze of lightning – strike the dead leaves that blanket the ground

Ignite in me a fire so hungry – the wind cannot carry it

Too heady and thick with the promise

Of an unknown lust -

Smell of Soot in the forest air.

I know she can save me

The coliseum life is exhilarating – Nights and Days – churning up the forest floor

Flames licking at my doubts – wounds to be healed are sautered closed.

The lake is boiled down – leaving only his vice over my heart

She pries open his hand

Rips down the marionette’s strings -

Filling fast the lake with our whispers.

I know there is still work to do

Now that the needle is pointing North – magnetized again – Together we survey the damage

Nothing left of the forest – just foundation charred and barren – his arena left in ruins

Miles and miles stretching out of me – she inspects every acre closely

And stoops to move aside

A layer of burnt foliage –

Green growth fresh and healthy exposed

She says we can only build up from here.